3 Seconds of Fame

This year our school has been doing a reading program to motivate our kids to read. As one of the incentives for the month our principal decided that if the kids met their goal, each teacher would spray paint his/her hair for the day. Every class in the school met their goal, so we all met for a wild assembly to get sprayed. Best part: KSL decided to come and put us on the news that night. I couldn't figure out how to post it here, but if you want to see the video you can go to ksl.com and search Spring Lake. If you look very carefully you might see me, but be warned, no one has yet recognized me.

Before...

And after.

Me and my magnificent student teacher Kylee.

California

Until two weeks ago, I had never been to California. Which means this trip included a whole lot of firsts for me. Becky and I left right after school on Tuesday and drove to Las Vegas. We were SO CLOSE to the city when I looked in the rear view mirror and saw those lovely blue flashing lights (I was only going 5 over, REALLY). Turns out the officer had no problem with my speed but was concerned about Becky's car's lack of license plate (she did have the temporary paper, but I guess that wasn't good enough). We handed over our licenses and registration but when the officer came back and said it was the registration for another car I began having visions of handcuffs and jail. Eeep! It all worked out, though. The registration turned out to be that of her old car and although the car salesman hadn't given Becky her new registration, the officer was able to find enough paperwork to pacify himself. Once again, on to Vegas.

We stayed at the Sahara, which seemed like a GREAT idea, mainly because it was cheap, on the Strip, and we had heard of it. Sadly, it was a less-than-cozy place, but it worked. Although I don't recommend it. The next morning we went shopping at the mall in Planet Hollywood, then continued on to CA.

There's nothing like sand between your toes.

As soon as we got there we went straight to the beach (ah, glorious ocean!). The next day we went to Disneyland, which was all that I had hoped and dreamed it would be. :) We got there bright and early in the morning and left late that night.

The next day we drove down to San Diego (wow, I might want to live there some day) and went to the zoo. Going to that zoo has been a dream of mine for years, I had always heard that it is incredible, and it turned out to be pretty great.

Inside one of the aviaries.

That night we drove up to Hemet (with a short stop along the way to pick up a toy for Becky; a shiny new code reader) and the next day we went to Elizabeth and Broc's wedding and reception. It made me SO happy to see her marry a wonderful guy. It was all perfect and reminded me that the Lord does guide our lives, if we let him.

The day after that we drove straight back to Provo. It was a fantastic vacation. I might need to do that again.

*Everyone told me that driving in California is terrifying because people are so aggressive - but I really liked it. I thought it was fun. :) They may be aggressive but they know what they are doing.

*Even though it is California, that does not mean it will be warm. Stubborn me, I woke up every day and looked at the sun shining and thought 'today will be nice, I don't need a jacket,' and every day I froze. Result: I now have a cold and could not talk for 3 days. Next time I will be smarter.

Espanol

All through high school and nearly half of college I was immersed in world of French (well, not so much immersed as I was taking classes, but when you start to think in French that counts for something, right?). It is, after English, my favorite language. At the height of my years in French acquisition I felt I could communicate reasonably well (I'm sad to report that over the last 4 years my skills have rapidly diminished). I loved speaking more than one language and I wanted to add more to my repertoire. First on the list was Spanish, being closely related to French I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to pick up, and it would be terribly useful to know.
This week my dreams have begun to come true. My roommate Katie and I decided to sign up for a community Spanish class. It is 8 weeks long; I've been once so far; here are the highlights:

• Our first class was almost entirely in Spanish, yes we're beginners, yes she knows it, and thanks to my French I'm pretty sure I understood
• Senora Koch has promised to teach us to read, write, and speak Spanish by the end of March; actually I think we've already had our reading lesson; I may have failed
• I thought my accent was pretty good but apparently I speak Spanish with a French accent, don't laugh
• I learned how to say my name, where I live, where I am from, what I like to do, and what I am wearing, not bad for 2 hours

I am pretty excited...we shall see how it goes.

Christmas 2008

Just before Christmas I went home to a very snowy Washington. For those who may not be so well-acquainted with Seattle weather patterns, this is not typical. In fact, looking back on the many years I have spent there, I do not recall a single white Christmas. It was absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately, people in Seattle don't really know how to deal with the glorious white stuff, which left us more or less house-bound for about a week. It was fun to hang out with my family though, so I really didn't mind. The next week the snow turned to rain and life was normal again. I went to visit my grandparents, saw the Nutcracker, and hung out downtown with my brother.

Aaron sledding

Caitlyn modeling her new little mermaid costume

Jana and Caitlyn at the Seattle Opera House eating lunch before the Nutcracker

Caitlyn was playing with my camera and took this rather artistic picture - not bad for a 3 year old

Me and Jason at the library downtown

Looking down at the city

A trail near my house

Sometimes It's Not So Good To Live Next To A Mountain

Scream and scream again. I was sitting in my room when I got a call from Katie to come outside right away, and to come through the garage. Because, oh yes, there was a tarantula on our doorstep. It was big and it was hairy and being the arachnophobe that I am, I just about lost my dinner. Imagine if we hadn't known and walked out the door. Probably I would have had a heart attack. Thankfully Scott was kind enough to come over and get rid of it for us. Although, in typical me fashion I am now thoroughly paranoid and keep looking around me thinking another one is going to drop down on me or crawl up to me. Here are a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure (or not, as the case may be).

Here's where we found him.

And then he started to crawl up the door.

Gasp.

I thought you needed a close-up.

THANK YOU Scott for saving us!

Field Trip

Last week we went on our yearly excursion to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum. Even though I have been 3 times, it did not disappoint. You see, I am passionate about all things historic and I've had this lifelong desire to be an archaeologist/paleontologist. If this desire weren't superseded by my even greater desire to some day get married and raise children I would probably be out in the middle of the desert digging up bones right now. But having shelved that dream I get my fixes through reading and going to exciting places like the museum. If you have not been, I highly recommend it.

This year I came up in the rotation for first grade team leader, which means that I was pretty much in charge of planning the field trip (for 6 teachers and 120+ first graders). Oh pressure.

Not everything went quite as smoothly as I would have liked, and there were a few tense moments in which I was FREAKING OUT but it all worked out.

So the kids had a good time, the teachers had a good time, and next year I'll get to breathe easier knowing that someone else is in charge. :)

These are a few pictures from the field trip. Sadly I think it is not quite legal for me to post pictures of my kids, but imagine a bunch of little 6 and 7 year olds running around in the background. I did, however, post pictures of my team (I am so lucky to work with these ladies!).

Kathy and me.

Mandy, Paige, and Amanda.

Me, Mandy, and Paige.

I can't remember what this one is, I think a Utahraptor.

A cute, miniature, prehistoric elephant. I love elephants.

The teeth alone...

Extremely large turtle. I also love turtles.

You can't tell from the picture but this 'sand dollar' is actually 18 inches -2 feet across. It's from the ocean, need I say more?

Ogden Experience

As our school's illustrious Arts Representative I was sent up to Ogden for two days last week to go to a statewide arts conference. I had never been to Ogden before, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a pretty good sized city and reminded me a lot of Tacoma (on a smaller scale :) I had also never stayed in a hotel by myself before and I couldn't help thinking as I walked in that I felt like a real adult. We stayed at Hotel Ben Lomond, and let me tell you, it was quite the hotel. It was built back in the 1890's, opened as a hotel in the 1920's, and is a historical landmark; the lobby is beautiful and the food was good. My room was nice (and huge! it had a sitting room and a bedroom, when I laid in the middle of the bed I could reach out and not touch either side. I also had t.v.s in both rooms and yes I turned them both on so I could have Law and Order surround sound while I was in the shower) but I think I was one of two people staying on the 7th floor. Apparently not all of the rooms were of such high quality; I talked to a girl in the elevator who was also attending the conference and she said that the walls and ceiling of her room were full of holes and there was blood on the lampshade (a little scary...). My friend and I decided that she must have had the Al Capone room (he stayed there once and the restaurant is named after him). Other than that it was all good and the conference was a lot of fun.