Lake Powell

A few weeks ago I went to Lake Powell for the first time and fell in love! (with the lake) One of the counselors in our Bishopric and his family were going down with some family and they had extra room on their houseboat, so they very kindly invited us to come down. My friend Amy and I went for three days and it was WONDERFUL! Sadly I forgot my camera, but thank you so much to Sarah who very kindly shared her pictures.

The lake

The boatMe and Amy on Luke's boat Amy, Sarah, and Emily tubing with the kids
A really cool scorpion that I WISH I had been this close to, the boys found it near the boat on the shore

Sarah organized a treasure hunt for the kids that was a lot of fun, this is our map

The kids getting ready for their treasure hunt, all decked out like pirates

Finding treasureSarah and Branson Me and Amy again

Playing Killer Bunnies, the most randomly cool game

Me, Amy, and Sarah

Tulip Festival

Sharla and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point; here are a few of the pictures that I took:

These are a new minor obsession of mine:

I know many of you are thinking, "But Lindsey, you don't like spicy foods - anything beyond mild salsa makes ya cry!" I know, I know. But trust me they're worth it. I just need a lot of milk nearby when I eat them.

My Miracle

This is my flash drive:

It is quite old and quite loved. I should not have it right now. Let me tell you why.

My flash drive is not so securely fastened on my keyring but I did have good intentions to do something about that. The other times it had fallen off I noticed right away, and since it is a reasonably large appendage on my key chain I thought I would notice immediately if it fell off again. But last Thursday I pulled my keys out of my bag after work and it was gone; it was not in my bag and it was nowhere in my room (I honestly didn't look that hard because I had that sick feeling that I just wouldn't find it).

Even worse news was that my dossier (read that 'long and bothersome report to show my competence as a teacher') was saved only on my flash drive - brilliant, I know - and was due to be reviewed by some of my co-workers the next day. Perry, another teacher who very kindly was helping all of us who were writing dossiers, had looked over the copy that I did have and asked me to make some corrections.

So, in a bit of a panic I went to the meeting the next morning. As I sat down I debated mentioning my situation because I didn't really see much point, but finally decided that I might as well. So I told Perry that I had lost my flash drive. He cut me off right there and said 'I know where it is. It's at the temple.' I think my jaw dropped as I wondered what in the world he was talking about, and then thought that it was possible because I had gone to the temple the Tuesday prior.

He then went on to explain that a friend of his who works at a high school in Salem had called him to tell him that he'd found it. This gentleman also works security at the temple and picked it up. He very kindly went to the trouble to look on my flash drive, found somewhere my name and the name of the school that I work at. Incredibly he knew the school and he had a friend at the school (Perry).

I never, ever would have thought to inquire at the temple and my flash drive would have been lost to me forever. I am so grateful for blessings and miracles and a Heavenly Father who takes care of me, even when it's just a little thing like a flash drive.

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.