Bushmania

Fun Weekend

2012-01-20T21:40:00.000-06:00

So, I'm behind with my posting. I had an awesome weekend a couple of weeks ago.

Friday night we had a Chappell Group team party at Rob's house. Jake made us crepes and they were amazing. We played games and visited. What a great group of people!

Saturday afternoon my good friend Jessica stopped by with her cute little baby. He's not even 3 months old. I loved all his smiles!

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Saturday night I went to my friend Kim's 30th birthday party. It was out in the boondocks at a barn. Kim's a fantastic musician and this party was perfect for her. They had a bunch of musical performances. I got a little video of each performance. Becca & Chris started things off. I titled this video wrong - it's really only the first act so all the other counts are one off, but I figure it doesn't matter! :)

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This one has Brianna singing a solo then John and a girl whose name I can't remember (maybe Jessica?) singing a duet.

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The first one in this one is by Brad, but is also a group effort. I loved the second one with a group of girls singing Kaleidescope by Sarah Barielles.

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I loved Becca's next one. The second one on this video is Brad, Chris, and Nikki.

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Kim sang again for us near the end. I only got a second of her brother Chris' song because my battery died, but it was really funny. There was another song at the end that Jen filmed. It's on her Facebook page. Anyway, what a fun weekend!

Home For the Holidays

2012-01-17T17:52:00.000-06:00

It's taken forever, but I'm finally finishing out my little vacation to be with family during the holidays.

I'm picking up with Evie's first birthday, just a day after her dad's.

Susannah got her this super cute outfit and made her the crown. Evie's not too keen about having things on her head, but she tolerated it for a few minutes.

She opened her presents in the morning.

Of course we had to have Grandma and Grandpa Warr on Skype to view all the fun.

Love these folks!

Susannah made an Evie sized cake and covered it with fondant. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Evie looks slightly concerned. She'd never had cake before and has had hardly any "sweets"

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It wasn't an overly exciting first cake eating experience, but we sure enjoyed it!

Here's the damage to the cake! Not much!

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I shot some more video after she took the crown off. She was eating some normal food and was cracking us up with her faces. Adam calls her a "facial epileptic." She was getting a little cranky toward the end. She got sick later that night - poor little thing!

We enjoyed some BYU Cougar pasta after BYU won their bowl game. Go Cougars! Not sure why the picture turned sideways, but I don't think it matters so much on this one!

My dad, brother and I went shopping at an outlet mall. Adam got this cool hat.

He also tried to fit in one of those little cars. Now you see why we call him "The Giant."

I helped my dad take down Christmas lights one morning. It was really cold and I still had on my PJs so I just put on my coat and my cozy Angry Birds hat that The Giant gave me and I was very warm! I loved spending time with my family and can't wait for the next visit!

Home For Christmas

2011-12-29T00:52:00.000-06:00

I was able to take 4 days off from work to head to Seattle to be with my family for Christmas.

I flew in on Christmas Eve. It was probably the most beautiful descent I've ever had on any flight. It was right at sunset. It was so pretty on top of the clouds and then when we dropped below, we saw Mt. Ranier along with the sunset and it was breathtaking. I wish my pictures turned out better.

I didn't really take any pictures that night, but we got a bunch from Christmas morning on! Susannah got this one of cute little Evie in front of the tree.

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She also got some video of her opening presents

Evie definitely seemed more interested in playing with the boxes and wrapping paper than anything!

We went to church that morning at 10:00 am. Susannah wanted some cute pictures of Evie in her Christmas outfit in front of the tree, but she kept yanking her headband off before we could get any good ones. My dad stuck it on like this and made Evie smile.

We settled for a few cute shots without the headband.

The next day, us girls did some shopping at the mall. We saw a cute carosel and couldn't pass it up! I went with her.

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She had a pretty somber/concerned face, but she was making noises the whole time that let me know she was having fun.

The next day we went out for some grocery shopping.

I had to snag a video of her walking since it's such a novelty to me. I hadn't seen her do it in real life until I came out for a visit.

Much to her parents' dismay, Evie seems to have taken an interest in World of Warcraft. My brother plays a lot and she got up on his lap once and started mimicking they way he typed on the keyboard. It was pretty cute.

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Another thing that cracks me up is how much Evie LOVES looking at pictures of herself. If anyone is sitting at my parents' computer, she'll beg to get up on their lap. They have a whole folder full of Evie photos that they'll put on "slideshow." She can watch it several times and doesn't usually like to get down. In this video she's enjoying the pictures AND the music!

I also have a folder of Evie pictures on my computer so I was showing her. I thought I'd sneak a quick picture of us, but she didn't look too amused. She really is super smiley and funny until the camera comes out!

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My dad got a remote control plane for Christmas. We had a good time watching he and Adam try flying it.

Today is Adam's birthday. Susannah made him an awesome cake.

My mom actually made the frosting and Susannah made the trees and the fly-fisherman out of chocolate. It turned out really cute.

I think I'm going to have to try this sometime!

I gave Adam this i-pad tips and tricks book for his birthday and I think he'll get some good use out of it.

Here's the happy couple!

I tried to get a smiling picture, but no luck yet.

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Evie has been a picky eater - or more a girl who'd rather play with her food than eat it, but not so with avocados. I got a kick out of her going to town on them!

Ready to blow out his candles.

Here's the video of it. I'm only about halfway through my time here, but knew I had a lot to post, so I thought I'd break it up into a couple of posts.

Relief Society Christmas Dinner

2011-12-28T23:18:00.000-06:00

For the last while, I've been the "additional Relief Society meetings" counselor in the RS presidency. We usually do an activity a month and we planned a big dinner for December.

First of all, let me say that I have an awesome committee and we have a great ward with lots of great and helpful people. The two in the middle of this picture - Shauna and Kelly are on my committee, and Trena (left) just came early to help out. We had the activity at Kelly's mom's place - Karen (right).

Dorothy (left) is Kelly's grandmother and also lives with Karen. She and Karen were big helps too. Theresa (center) and Ashley (right) are fantastic members of my committee.

Sorry - drink holders. Very handy and now on my wish list! :)

We were able to set up for 44 people in her main living room. Ashley had the idea to use real China so several people let us use their plates and goblets. It was a nice dinner. We had it catered from Italianos.

Kelly had this awesome garland she'd made for her banisters at home, but we used it for table centerpieces. The whole activity was a big success and I think we'll make it annual thing!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T19:48:00.001-06:00

I was just realizing I haven't posted in awhile. It's been a busy few weeks, but I haven't taken many pictures.

One I did take is of my Christmas tree this year. Besides the lights, I pretty much just used natural decorations.

I put dried orange and lime slices and chains of cranberries. I like the citrus because it's like little stained glass windows.

I did get together with some friends and we made these cute little graham cracker houses. They turned out pretty cute. Mine's in the middle. I head to Seattle in a couple of days and I can't wait to be with family! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:22:00.000-06:00

One of the downsides of my new job is that I definitely have less time off. At school this year everyone got a week off. Me? Thursday. I will admit, though, that we got off early on Wednesday and only have to work a half day on black Friday tomorrow. I didn't get to be with my family - the first time since my mission, I think. The Calls - my relative here in town went out of town for Thanksgiving so I was a little worried about being here by myself. Luckily, though, (for me anyway) my cousin Shalene and her kiddos were here for Thanksgiving so we planned to have dinner together.

I made this pumpkin pie along with some sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and stuffing. Shalene made the turkey, potatoes, and an apple pie.

Here are her cute kiddos enjoying the feast.

We got a pictures with our pies before dessert. Both were delicious.

Here's our little spread. I was so stuffed and had to come home for a nap!

Visiting PFE

2011-11-24T20:14:00.000-06:00

The other day I was looking at my old school website and noticed that there was an open house for grades K-2 one evening. I decided to take the day off (I needed to take another one before the end of the year) and get some stuff done. I then made some Navajo Tacos and took them to my old teammates since I knew they'd be stuck up at school for a long day/night.

It was so great to see everyone. I also loved it because the second graders were having a performance so I got to see a bunch of my old students all together. They spotted me watching from the back of the room and were waving. I bunch of them ran up to me afterward and we had some fun little chats.

Robbie & Brad

2011-11-24T20:08:00.001-06:00

Some of you may remember that a couple of summers ago, I got to babysit a little 7 month old boy named Robbie.

This is my favorite picture I took of him during that week. It was so fun and he was such a good little guy. I was so sad to take him back at the end of the week! Sadly I hadn't seen him since I took him back . . .

until the other day! Luckily, I now work with his dad and he invited me to Robbie's 2nd birthday party. He's so big!

Here he is with his mom and grandma and new little brother (who looks a lot like Robbie did when I watched him).

At the party we watched a video of Brad and Jake singing at a stake dance for the youth. Robbie liked the music and was dancing up in front of the tv. So cute.

Recently it was Brad's (Robbie's dad) so I made him a cake. He requested something pumpkin flavored.

I had seen this idea on Pinterest and thought I'd try it out. I just made two pumpkin bundt cakes, turned one upside down and put them together. I frosted them with cream cheese frosting. The stem was quite the undertaking. I put a plastic cup upside down in the middle and rested the stem, made out of some stuff similar to fondant.

Brad was excited to try it and it was a big hit.

I had to get a picture of the inside with the cup showing because it cracked me up! :)

Halloween

2011-11-06T00:08:00.000-05:00

I had a couple of fun Halloween activities.

Our ward had a trunk or treat and RS was in charge. It was an easy one. I just bought rootbeer float stuff and Kenna and I manned the booth while the kids went around and got candy.

I loved this little peacock costume. Sorry it's a little blurry!

I loved April's costume. She's pregnant and added the baby skeleton to her costume. I thought it was super cute. Nate showed up for a quick visit. He was in town to see his kids over Halloween, but I forgot to take any pictures.

Katherine's birthday is on October 30th. We had a little dinner party for her on Halloween, though. About half the folks there dressed up. Here are a few of them. Justin was a "chick magnet," Scott was . . . not sure if there's an actual name, but he went all out. I don't know Kath's pirate friend, but Katherine's old lady costume was awesome. The sign on her says Granny Smith and it has the grocery store code on it. She's funny.

Scott had his nails painted and even had a purse with make-up in it. We got this one of him reapplying some lipstick. It was hilarious!

Here's looking down the table. There were lots of people there.

Katherine was also reapplying lipstick a lot. Like any "stereotypical" grandmother, she was kissing everyone on the cheek. It cracked me up. No, I didn't dress up. I was lame this year and had no ideas.

I got Katherine this cake but forgot candles. Chuy's gave me this little "chip" to light. It worked really well.

Here's a better shot of Granny Kath. She wore a body suit with a saggy chest and a saggy pooch. It was hilarious!

My new job

2011-11-05T23:46:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to get some pictures of my new job, but working at Merrill Lynch isn't as conducive for taking pictures as teaching first grade is! I do have a few now, though.

When Jen came to have lunch with me, I had her take a picture of me at my desk. One of my favorite things is that you can see Alan Skidmore in the background. I work with a lot of great people.

This is a professional shot of our team. I would have liked to take a less formal one, but they have rules about what you can have for websites and stuff. This is one that will be posted in a lot of places for our group. I really enjoy working with these folks.

. . . especially on Halloween! :)

Austin Mid-Singles Activity

2011-11-05T23:31:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago there was a mid-singles activity in Austin.

13 of us girls stayed at the Williams' lake house. The activities were great, but I was sad we didn't get more time at the lake too!

One of the 13 was Julie who flew in for a surprise visit. I was glad she came with us. With Julie around, you have to be on guard. She reverted to an old girls' camp prank and hung Katherine's bra on the flagpole.

Katherine was down by the lake and saw it going up. We heard her shout from down there, but she was too late. The colors had been raised.

There are actually two houses on their property which was perfect for so many of us. This is looking up at the deck of the bigger house from the ground. I hardly took any pictures this weekend. I need to get some from Mauren!

I did get one of the three of us. Love those girls!

Fun Food and Folks

2011-11-05T22:58:00.000-05:00

I've had a few fun times with friends lately.

Stacie came back to Houston so some of us got together for dinner at Panera. It was a lot of fun.

Last October Wendy started a tradition of taking me out to dinner for my half birthday.

She chose this cute little French Restaurant in Humble called Chez Nous. It was awesome!

Katherine joined us this year. We had a great time.

Jen came up and had lunch with me in The Woodlands, but I didn't get a photo. Also, Jared, Kristin, and her brother met me on my lunch break! I've been a lucky girl!

RS Service Project

2011-11-05T22:42:00.000-05:00

In October, we had a service activity where we made hats and blankets for the NICU at a local hospital. We also put together hygiene kits for the moms who end up staying at the NICU longer than they'd planned for.

We let the sisters know way in advance and people went crazy making blankets and hats - especially hats. We ended up with around 90!

How cute are all these?

We had a pretty good turn out at the activity. People brought stuff they'd already made to the activity and we learned how to make stuff we didn't already know how to make.

The young women came and got busy making hats using these knitting looms.

Cheryl showed how to make quick flannel blankets.

Some people also learned about crocheting hats.

The sisters had a great time and were so proud of their creations.

One of the looms was left at the activity so I took it home and made a little hat to add to the donations.

I had to get a picture of Cheryl with one of her hats. She made so many of them plus tons of blankets! She's awesome! This is going to be an ongoing thing since we know how to make everything now!

Car Trouble

2011-11-05T21:57:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I walked out of work and saw a flat tire on my car.

Upon closer examination, I saw this sticking out of the tire. I must have run over this on my way to work and it slowly drained the air from my tire.

I got the car jacked up and got the tire off, then headed to my trunk to get my donut.

I started unscrewing it, but it got to a point that it wouldn't unscrew any more. I pulled out my pliers and got a few more turns, but it was really stuck. Just then, my coworker, Jake, came out and I asked him to give it a try. He couldn't budge it anymore. I'm super glad that I joined AAA a few years ago. I called them and they sent someone right over. He couldn't get it unscrewed either. Apparently the bolt had rusted on the bottom. The AAA guy had to call the concierge for Market Street and borrow some bolt cutters. He finally got it off and got my tire put on. I went by discount tire, but they had just closed, so I went back the next day after work and they fixed my tire for free! I'm very happy with AAA and with Discount Tire!

Last week, I went out to my garage to head to work. I got in my car and it wouldn't start. I called AAA again and they had people out there in minutes. They ran some tests and found it was just a dead battery. They had a bunch of new batteries in their truck so I just bought one from them, they installed it, and I was on my way. I'm glad I decided to join and think it's funny that I haven't used them at all for these last few years, but then twice within two weeks or so!

Grandma Evans

2011-10-03T22:59:00.005-05:00

On Monday, September 26th, I received word that my Grandma Evans had passed away.

This is a picture taken in her younger years. She was born September 24th, 1915, so she'd just celebrated her 96th birthday 2 days before she passed away.

This is a picture I took of Grandma and my sister at Susannah's wedding reception in Boise, ID back in June of 2009. She was pretty weak and had lost a lot of weight, but she still looked like grandma.

We visited her this summer just after Lake Powell and she was very frail, could barely speak, and her memory was going. She continued to decline after that until her passing. What a great lady. We're so sad to see her go, but I'm very happy that she's now free from pain and can be with Grandpa Evans and our Heavenly father. Click HERE to read her obituary.

I flew in to SLC on Thursday, September 29th and my good friend Allie picked me up. Here she is with her cute oldest daughter Megan. Not only did she pick me up, but we went back to the airport to pick up Susannah and Evie a few hours later!

Here are Allie's girls and Evie playing. They were so cute together. Allie's kindness didn't end there, though. My parents drove in from Seattle and Allie fixed us all dinner! She also let us borrow an extra pack and play for Evie to sleep in over the weekend. Our trip wouldn't have been nearly as smooth without Allie!

On a side (but very important) note. Thursday was also my parents' 39th wedding anniversary. I thought I'd post this wedding picture of my parents with all their parents - who are now all deceased. My Grandma Evans is next to my mom. To see these fantastic people in their prime revisit THIS post!

Here's my mom with her siblings: Bob, Norma, and Janice at the viewing before the funeral. Here's a snippet from my Grandma's life sketch that my mom wrote and I read at the funeral. This picture made me think of it:

Norma and Janice were little red haired girls, Bob was blond and both LaVerne and Glyn were dark haired. The story goes that Grandma North was visiting for church one Sunday and saw those 3 children sitting together and said, “Honest to John, LaVerne, those kids don’t look like they belong to you.”

My mom was born 8 years later and had the dark hair like her parents.

Here are some of my cousins/cousin's husbands carrying the coffin before the graveside service.

Of course Evie made everything fun - even a funeral. I love that baby!

Just previous to the grave dedication by my dad.

Evie liked the headstone. She actually likes everything!

They hadn't yet engraved Grandma's death date in the headstone.

I got a couple of videos of Evie at the graveyard. She really wanted to be down on the ground.

This is her new crawl - like a stinkbug or spider monkey! In the background you may hear my mom thinking about setting me up with a friend of the family who's in his 60s. Hmmmmm.

We stopped back by the cemetery after the lunch at the church and they'd already covered her up. The cemetery has a beautiful view of the mountains!

Here are my cute parents next to the grave.

Some of the beautiful flowers left there at her grave.

We drove through Provo Canyon to get over to Lehi where we stayed the next two nights.

I'm always amazed at how beautiful the mountains are in that drive through the canyon.

Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon.

I had to snap this quick one too. This town and this mill are in the movie "Footloose."

My cute parents again. We stayed Thursday night with my mom's cousin Jim in Heber, but we stayed with my cousin on my dad's side for the other two nights.

Evie has a hard time crawling in her footie pjs so she was wearing them more as a dress when she was playing around before bed.

I though this was a cute video of Susannah and Evie reading Evie's favorite book. It has a mirror on the last page and Evie really likes looking at herself. She has a cute reaction in this video, but I was too late to get the more dramatic reactions. She was squealing the previous two times through this book. The camera ruined it!

This is my cousin Desiree and her husband Kurt. They were the kind folks who hosted us at their house Friday and Saturday nights. We spent Saturday watching General Conference at her house.

Desiree did invite her local siblings and their families over for a grilling evening before the Priesthood session. Here's Daylen with Evie.

I'm not sure what my dad was retrieving over the fence for Kurt, but I thought this was amusing.

Here's Donovan and my dad with Daylen's boys in the background.

I love these girls. I also love this windblown model shot of my mom!

Evie had some oatmeal after the BBQ. She got it ALL over her face.

I took this video to give you a better handle on how bad it was!

I LOVE Evie's "scrunchy face." Susannah got her started on it, and with some prompting, she kept it going a lot during that feeding.

Another great side view of the scrunchy face. She's a funny kid!

Front view mid blink.

Sunday morning Susannah, Evie, and I flew out. My parents dropped us off at the airport and then they drove back to Seattle.

I waited for Susannah and Evie to board their plane and then headed to my gate. On my way, I saw this out of the airport window - a temple. I think it might be the Bountiful temple, but I'm not positive. It was a great close to my trip to UT. What a visual reminder that families can be together forever. That's what's most important.

PFE T-Shirt Quilt

2011-09-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

While I was visiting my parents in Washington, I bought some fabric to start a t-shirt quilt for all my school t-shirts. When I visited my sister, we utilized her rotary cutter and got the fabric all cut and ready for the top of the quilt. When I got back to Houston for the week before I headed to Hawaii, I cut out the t-shirts and got the top of the quilt done.

I finally decided to get back on it and get the quilt done. I worked on the back last night and got it cut and ready. I didn't have a quilt stand, so my aunt borrowed one and set it up at her house. I brought my stuff over and we got started.

Here's Aunt Maylene doing some tying for me!

She got one of me too.

She showed me a quicker way to bind the quilt, and actually helped me get it all pinned and ready. I came home and got it sewed up.

It's finished! I really like it!

This is a little more of a close-up so you can see the fabric I used on both sides. I've got another one to get busy on now!

Oklahoma

2011-09-05T00:03:00.001-05:00

I decided to make a little road trip over the long weekend. I've been meaning to visit my cousins and aunt & uncle in Oklahoma for a while now, and I finally made it out there.

My cousin Ryan made this little clubhouse for his son. It's a got a bed a the top and a slide down just to the left. I was really impressed. He built it from scratch.

My cousin Heather took me to downtown Oklahoma City. They have a riverwalk area that's really nice. It's like a little mini San Antonio down there. She also took me to the Oklahoma City bombing Memorial. This is still written on the wall by the memorial.

I loved this reflecting pond between the big monuments they built on either side.

I'm standing on the outside of one of the monuments looking at the other one. It was just before sunset.

These chair-like things were put up as a memorial for each person who died in the bombing. They're arranged by floor. The second floor row was sad because it had smaller chairs for all the kids from the daycare. So sad.

We had someone take our picture looking from the other direction. Sadly, my eyes are closed. Oh well!

This inscription was on the outside of both of those big monuments.

They still had stuff up on those fences that people had put there just after the bombing happened and people are still putting stuff there.

That tree is called the Survivor tree. It's pretty scarred from the explosion too.

After we left the memorial, we went to visit my aunt and uncle. This is the view from their backyard - the Oklahoma City temple. My Uncle Art is in the temple presidency.

I stayed with Mike and Heather. They're living in the house that Uncle Art built lots of years ago. This is one little shot of their yard.

This is the house. It's pretty cool.

The coolest part about it is that it's built into a hill so it's sort of considered underground.

The weather magically cooled down last night and has remained FANTASTIC, so we had a family dinner out on the porch.

Mike was kind enough to take one with me in it.

I always get a kick out of dirty faces and little Brooklyn had a cute one that I couldn't pass up!

Here's Ryan and Sarah and their family.

I tried to get one of just Heather and Mike's family, but Cannon and Brooklyn jumped in for some camera time!

Here's Brooklyn again with a huge piece of powdered donut in her mouth.

Yeah for Art and Gene!

Ryan's my SkipBo nemesis. Sadly, he has effectively kicked my trash in SkipBo this trip. At least I won one! He's one lucky game player.

Here are some of the boys flexing their muscles.

Somehow, the flexing turned in to a massive dance party. It started with these 3 and ballooned into pretty much everyone.

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Things kind of ended badly when Jacob took a pretty hard slap to the chest from his sister, Lily. You can see the welted hand print if you look closely. He was so upset and hurt that he ended up throwing up. We've had a great time other than that!

Panther Power

2011-08-27T14:20:00.000-05:00

I've been working at Merrill Lynch now for two weeks. I've yet to take a picture, because that environment seems less conducive to pictures than my previous job was.

I got a text from my old co-worker and friend Marcia seeing if I'd like to meet up after work on Friday. It was great to see these great ladies! Go first grade! :)

Brooke's Blessing

2011-08-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday was my cousin Dannen's daughter's baby blessing.

I went to the Humble Ward to see it happen. It was great to see a lot of Dannen's immediate family members there. He had graduated that weekend too, so his parents, his two brothers, and some friends came in for all the celebrations. This is everyone who was there except for my Uncle Darrell Call that was taking care of some Bishop responsibilities.

I did get him in this one. I thought it was cool that it was just family in the circle. I'm not sure I've seen that ever happen. What a great group!

Kauai - Finishing the trip

2011-08-18T22:57:00.001-05:00

Wednesday morning we headed back toward the hike we did on Monday.

We went to this beach which is called Tunnels beach, we think.

I got really brave and took my camera out in the water with me. Luckily my camera survived!

Here's cute and sandy Evie with Grandma and Grandpa.

Two cute girls!

After the beach we got some food at Bubba's Burgers and drank our favorite Hawaii drink - POG. We found these little ketchup cups that we drank out of.

We then went back to the coast to find a place called the Queen's Bath.

This little pool was right next to the Queen's Bath.

Here's Adam Warr, mom, and me in Queen's Bath.

There were so many sea turtles around this area. We had a hard time getting good shots of them because we never knew where or when they were going to pop up. If you like right in the middle of this picture, you'll see a turtle's head poking out of the water.

We thought it might be better to try video. Both of these have some turtles. Watch closely!

This one is right at the first. Sorry about all the wind!

Thursday we headed over to Kapa'a for some fun. We went on a tour to the Fern Grotto. This is a view from the boat we were on.

This is the cave or "Fern Grotto."

I wanted to do a family picture here, and my dad was kind enough to let me test the light on him.

Not my favorite shot, but we're all in it!

The cute little Warr family.

These leaves were huge! We used Evie for scale.

Here's another family picture attempt.

This is on the way back from the grotto. This area is where they filmed the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Harrison Ford comes running out of the cave.

After the grotto tour, we went to the Smith's Luau. We had to wait a bit so we did another family picture try.

This is in the Smith property. It was really nice. The guys were being silly.

Beautiful mom with lovely flowers.

Love these girls!

They had goats and chickens and a cow. The Adams had fun feeding the animals.

Fun until a goat bit Adam! If you look closely, you can see a bite mark in the middle of his index finger.

The luau begins!

I love kalua pig!!!!

CUTE! This was right after dinner and just before the show.

It was a great trip. This is a view from the place we stayed. It was really nice. I was sad to leave.

I was especially sad to leave this little munchkin. Here she is doing her wounded soldier crawl. I'm sure she'll be full on crawling soon!

Kauai - Helicopter Ride

2011-08-18T22:21:00.000-05:00

When I found out I was going to be heading to Kauai, I decided I was definitely going to do a helicopter ride. I think it all stems from my love of Jurassic Park! :)

I rode with a company called Sunshine Helicopters that flew right out of Princeville.

I probably won't comment on all the pictures, because there are several, but just know that these are only a small fraction of the ones I took. This is just right after take off.

These next few are all through the mountains on the wet side of the island. In this particular valley there were at least 50 waterfalls all over the place. It was incredible.

We flew over Waimea Canyon again. It was spectacular!

These next few are along the Napali Coast closer to where we were staying.

The water, reefs and cliffs were all so impressive.

The peak the furthest to the right is the famous Bali Hai peak from the musical "South Pacific."

If you look closely, you can see the trail we hiked the day before.

Hanalea. You can barely see the beach just to the left.

I had one of my flight mates take this one for me.

I'm definitely glad I did this flight. It was so beautiful!

Kauai

2011-08-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

This was my first visit to Kauai and it was beautiful!

We met my parents and brother there. This was taken at a little shopping center in Hanalea which is right by Princeville where we stayed.

One of our first stops there was a farmers market! That pineapple was amazing! Always love the apple bananas too.

The first beach we went to was at Hanalea Bay. We accessed the beach from the St. Regis hotel which was amazing.

This is a view of the beach from the hotel.

We put one of my parents glasses on Evie and it totally cracked us up.

We passed this scenic outlook many times as we drove between Princeville and Hanalea. I loved the mountains there.

On Sunday we went on a drive up to Waimea Canyon which has been called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

It was pretty breathtaking. We spent quite awhile at this lookout.

The whole family.

Cute little Evie and her dad.

My dad got this one of me. Too bad I'm squinting. :)

After Waimea we went in to Lihue where my dad gave a fireside for the seminary and institute students and their teachers. It was really great.

The next day we went on a hike along the Nipali Coast. It was a beautiful hike and a definite workout.

This view was so cool. The water was such an aqua color and we almost felt like we were in a highlighted black and white picture for a minute.

I love this cute picture of my parents taking a little rest on the hike.

My dad scouted this shot for me.

The trail went a lot longer, but we stopped at this beach that was 2 miles from the trailhead. It was beautiful, but had very dangerous currents so they told us not to swim in it. Up to that point they'd had 83 drownings at that beach.

Mom and Evie getting their feet wet.

I loved this shot as we were about to head away from the beach.

Maui - Haliimaile and Hana

2011-08-15T22:21:00.000-05:00

It wouldn't be a trip to Maui without visiting the place we lived most of the summers we lived here. Last time I visited in 2009, the old plantation was VERY run down.

Someone bought it and it is REALLY nice now.

It's still under construction and is supposed to be done in January.

This used to be the old laundry room.

They're turning it now into a wellness center. I'm not sure what exactly that entails.

We couldn't resist getting our pictures in front of the building. I wish I could have gotten a picture from the front, but they wouldn't let us because it was a construction zone.

This pineapple field was the only one we saw on Maui. Sad days, but I'm glad there's at least one! We saw lots of sugar cane. This was right across from our old place.

We also took a drive along the road to Hana. Beautiful drive as usual. I didn't snap any pictures until after Hana when we stopped Homoa beach. It is rated the second most beautiful beach in the world (we were told). It was amazing and had the biggest waves we'd seen.

It's kind of hard to tell, but it's considered a black sand beach.

I watched Evie while Adam and Susannah swam for a bit. These next pictures are not only ridiculously cute, but they illustrate that the sand really is black.

Evie was eating it again, but my purpose in this picture was to capture the "scrunchy face" she's been doing lately. She does a happy one and a mad one. This one is sort of in between.

Here's another shot of it. This one is looking a little more grumpy, but is so cute!

I LOVE this shot even with the black sand on her mouth.

The happy couple about to hit the waves.

Sus and Evie trying to get Adam's attention. He was more focused on the waves.

This is a view from the same beach just up on the road.

I grabbed some plumeria (my favorite flower) that had fallen from the tree to put in the car to make it smell spectacular - it worked!

We stopped at another portion of Haleakala state park to go on a hike. It was a four mile hike, I believe. 2 miles in and two miles out. There was a big banyan tree that we loved on that hike.

Here's Adam sitting on one of the branches of that same tree.

This one of me shows more of the height even though it still doesn't go all the way to the top.

There were lots of little side trails that lead off to cool little places. There was a little water fall going into this cool pool.

Probably the coolest part of the hike was a long stretch through a bamboo forest. I've never seen anything like it.

This is a better view of the oustide of the forest.

Here's Susannah just inside of the forest.

We had a little fun in there too.

I took this short video to give you a little sense of it. The color isn't bery good in it, though. The animal noise you hear is Adam in case you couldn't tell.

This was a super beautiful area just after the bamboo part.

The purpose of the hike was to get to this waterfall.

I think they said it was 400 feet tall.

Adam found a great spot to watch the waterfall and rest at the same time. There wasn't a ton of water falling, but it was still impressive.

After the hike we walked out to the shore. It's a beautiful area.

Lion King?

I didn't get a very good picture, but this is 7 sacred pools which is so cool.

Love this shot of the same shore, just up higher. I've been on the road to Hana quite a few times, but this was my first time to drive it. I survived!

Maui - Beach Day & Iao Valley

2011-08-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

We had a great day on Maui where we went to several beaches and one of my favorite Maui destinations.

Our first stop was at Makena Landing.

I love cute little Evie!

We did some snorkeling because it was more of a bay. Katherine was really excited!

Delisa and Anthony came with us too and they brought their 2 seater kayak and it was AMAZING! I really wanted to bring my camera out on that thing! I think all of us took a few opportunities to go out on it. In this picture, Anthony is helping Susannah and I in for the maiden voyage of this trip.

Katherine was our delicious sandwich maker. Peanut butter + banana = awesome!

Anthony, Delisa, and Wellington were fantastic hosts. We loved hanging out with them!

We knew Evie loved to play in the sand, but discovered at this beach that she also loves eating it!

We headed next to a beach we grew up calling Micki's beach. Our friend Micki had a beach house along here when were growing up on Maui. She's since passed away, but we still love this beach in Kihei.

Here's a shot looking the other way down the beach.

Evie was licking the sand off of my sunscreen . . . .

then she went straight for the source. Susannah found sand in Evie's diapers for days after this.

This beach was a little better for body surfing and boogie boarding. I love this shot of Adam getting totally tumbled by this wave from off the boogie board.

Evie was exhausted after her sandy lunch and fell asleep.

We headed to the Iao Valley after that. Look at this cute little family in front of the Iao Needle.

Here's the whole crew that came to Iao.

Another needle picture. I love this place!

After Iao, we made a quick stop by the beach I went to the most as a child on Maui - Baldwin beach just outside of Paia.

It was really windy and dusty out there that afternoon.

Beautiful!!!!

We didn't go in, but had some fun watching and taking pictures.

Contemplating the wave warnings.

Just as we were getting ready to go, I noticed this dead puffer fish at the base of this tree.

Here's a little bit better shot.

Maui - Blow Hole, Honolua Bay, and Lahaina

2011-08-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Later in the day after Haleakala, we decided to drive around from Haiku to Lahaina - kind of out of the way so we could see the Blow Hole along the way.

The scenery along the road was so beautiful, and the road was pretty gnarly and was one lane for a lot of the way.

Katherine got this shot along with the one before and after this one. It was a very pretty drive!

I love Maui!

This was a view from one of the cliffs.

We finally made it to the Blow Hole and got ready to hike down to see it. Susannah had a handy little sling for Evie that came in handy.

This is the view of the blow hole area from up near where we parked.

A little lower down, I caught this good shot of water spouting up through the blow hole.

We were down pretty close here. This is the breeze blowing through. It usually "spits" like this before a big bunch of water comes out.

Here's a pretty good spout.

And an even better one!

Katherine, Susannah, and Adam climbed up to get a top view while I stayed with Evie.

Katherine got this shot of the hole from above.

This is a spout from above.

Katherine got this one at the top of the cliffs by where we parked. The wind almost blew her back away from the cliff!

We drove a few more miles and came to the parking area for this cool snorkeling spot Adam had heard about called Honolua Bay. The walk to get to the bay was so pretty.

Evie liked it!

Katherine toted all our snorkel stuff through the mini rain forest.

She got this picture of the bay as we were leaving. The snorkeling was awesome. Adam saw some sea turtles.

We drove into Lahaina from there and had some lunch. Notice the POG. Delicious stuff!

We had to show Adam and Katherine the Banyan tree on Front Street.

Cute little family!

This is right along front street in Lahaina as well.

I carried Evie in the backpack for part of the time and she loved sucking on my hair. It was pretty salty from snorkeling and she couldn't get enough. It was pretty mangled when she was through.

Maui - Twin Falls and Haleakala

2011-08-09T22:28:00.000-05:00

Maui was our first stop in Hawaii. We flew in on a Monday - Susannah, Adam, Evie, Katherine, and I all within a few minutes of each other. We headed over to my cousin's house in Haiku and soon went on our first adventure.

Just a few miles from my cousin's house is Twin Falls. We hiked around there and went swimming. Poor Evie looks so sad in this picture. That backpack is really handy, though.

We actually only went to one of the Falls. Here are Adam and I in the fresh water pool. It was very cool.

Katherine and I are in this picture from a different view.

Evie and I were the only ones who didn't jump. Here's Adam's jump.

. . . Adam and Susannah climbing.

I forgot to put the camera on sports setting and this was what I got of Susannah's jump. It reminds me of a double limbed gumby. It cracked me up.

That night Evie didn't sleep very well. The next morning we had planned to go up for the sunrise at Haleakala crater. Susannah decided to stay because Evie was finally sleeping and Susannah could take a little nap. Katherine, Adam and I headed up. Here are Katherine and I waiting for the sunrise. It was pretty light, but the sun hadn't come up over the clouds up that high yet.

Here's Katherine just before the sun came up.

There were tons of people up there. Here's a group near where we were at the top.

Just previous to the sunrise.

Adam and Katherine.

Sun's just peaking over the clouds.

Halfway there . . .

. . . and it's up. It was pretty impressive.

We took some pictures of ourselves with the sun. I liked this one with it just over my shoulder.

This is a view of the parking lot from up at the top of the peak we climbed to see the sunrise. We're looking down the west side of the island here.

On my way . . .

2011-08-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

After being home for less than a week, I'm on my way again on the last leg of my summer vacation. My family planned to go to Hawaii. We got free flights with our Hawaiian Air credit cards, but I had to fly out of somewhere on the west coast, so I flew on my own to LAX and stayed the night.

Luckily, my good friend, Allison lives in the LA area and she picked me up and took me to some of the sites. She took me to this place called Diddy Riese which is right by UCLA and has AWESOME cookies and ice cream that you combine into sandwiches. DELICIOUS!

Not too far from there is the LA temple. Here we are just in front of it.

Here's another shot of the temple. It was a quick but fun trip! Hawaii bound!

Utah Visits

2011-07-25T16:23:00.000-05:00

After leaving Idaho, I headed toward UT for some rapid fire visits of some friends before I headed back to TX.

My first stop was to see Collette. I have to add a disclaimer that I had just exercised and hadn't showered yet, so please excuse my face in this picture. Collette looks great as usual! :)

After staying with Collette, I headed to SLC to see my old roommate and good friend, Allie. Here she is with her two little girls Megan and Adele.

It couldn't have been a more perfect day for me to visit her because her whole family was getting together for a pool party. I hadn't seen everyone in years so it was perfect!

Here's her dad with Adele. He had on sunglasses and his reading glasses. He and his wife just got back from serving as mission presidents in South Africa for 3 years. I wish I would have gone to visit while they were there!

This is Allie's sister Jen with 3 of her kids. She was my roommate for a year at BYU too!

I hadn't gotten Kim yet in the group shot yet so I made sure to get her with her two kiddos before I left.

We set this one on a timer and it turned out blurry. Oh well!

After leaving Allie's the next day, I met up with Elliott and one of his friends for lunch.

I then went down to Provo and caught Kirsten and her fiance Scott just before they left town.

It was great to catch up with her as well. She had just gotten engaged that week.

That night I stayed with Daylen and Scarlet again. I never got a whole family picture of them again, but I thought I'd put this one in of Valeska. She turned 4 the day after I left.

I had lunch in Provo with Joe, Brittany, and their cute little Stella at the Brick Oven. Notice the Y in the background. :)

I snuck in a quick viewing of Harry Potter then headed back to the Salt Lake area to hang out with Nate. Julie Larson was there too, but I totally forgot to grab a picture with her. She had a bridal shower to go to, so she didn't hang out very long. Nate and I went to a Chinese buffet. His powers of persuasion haven't faded. He got me to eat a crab leg, some sushi, and a mussel. The first two weren't bad, but I actually gagged twice with the mussel. Never again! He even ate a few that he thought were gross, but pretended to like them so I'd eat one!!!!!

We had his mom take a picture of us. This is one of 6. He's making ridiculous faces in all of them. I just picked the one of me I liked best! :) Also, I think this is the only one where he's actually looking at the camera.

This one is not actually in Utah, but it fits. I left UT and made a 15.5 hour trip to Midland. I've got quite a bit of family there and my Aunt Margene was kind enough to let me stay with them. It's a double bonus though, because not only do she and my Uncle Blaine live there, but my Uncle Darrell and Aunt Darla do as well. I had another camera lapse and didn't think to take a picture of all 4 of them when we were all chatting the night I arrived. I didn't see either of my uncles on Sunday because of meetings. I did get my cute aunts, though! I made it home Sunday night!

Back in Moscow

2011-07-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

I couldn't miss out on another visit to Moscow to see Adam, Susannah, and of course little Evie!

My GPS took me the scenic route toward the end of the trip. I ended up on several dirt roads that took me out over several hills. It was a little sketchy but beautiful!

This picture was actually from my previous Moscow trip, but I forgot to put it in. Adam and Evie had picked some flowers from a tree and I snapped this picture as she was "giving" me one. I thought it was cute.

I think this was one of my last nights there, so it's not really in order, but I LOVED having her finish her nap on my lap. We had to wake her up so she'd sleep that night.

Evie loves bath time. Susannah has found this easier than some other methods she's tried.

HELLO! :)

Brandon came into town to visit and the boys went out fishing so us girls went to the farmer's market, went out to lunch, went on a walk, and had a a great time. Susannah snapped this one at lunch.

We liked how you could see Evie's reflection in the table.

The morning I left Moscow. I love this cute little girl!

Susannah was so sweet and made us muffins and smoothies that morning. What a great send off. The only thing that made this parting bearable was knowing that I'll see them again in Hawaii in a week! :)

Havasupai Hike

2011-07-12T19:24:00.010-05:00

Last Thursday I flew from Seattle to Phoenix and met up with some of my High School friends. Jinny and Jill picked me up at the airport and we headed to Flagstaff where we met up with a bunch of other ladies for our Havasupai trip. We ate there, then headed to Seligman to a hotel. We woke up at 4:00am on Friday to begin the hike.

We probably didn't start hiking until almost 6:45 am because of the drive from Seligman to the top of the canyon. This is a view from the trailhead.

Luckily they had some port a potties there that we took advantage of before heading down. They were probably the nastiest ones I've ever used.

The first part of the hike is a mile worth of switchbacks to get down the canyon. These girls were all in our group. There were 22 of us in all!

The scenery was so beautiful. That's Jinny in front of me. We all packed our gear in. My pack weighed 30 pounds when I flew in. I left some stuff in Jinny's car, but I'm guessing it weighed pretty close to that because I had to fill up my water bottles and camelback bladder.

We had to kind of "pull over" lots of times going down because of all the mule and horse teams that were headed up the canyon.

Another cool scenery shot.

We hiked 8 miles to the village and then continued on the 2 miles to the campground. This is Navajo Falls that we passed on the way to the campground. I think it was a good half mile or more from the campground, though. There were some boys cliff jumping there and we had fun watching for a bit before continuing down.

I liked this view around the bend from where we were in the previous picture.

Just before you get to the camping area, you pass Havasu Falls. They were so beautiful! I would have stopped longer, but by this time, my feet were killing me from walking 10 miles and from going downhill so much.

The campsite we chose was right next to this little stream. Someone put one of the picnic tables in the water and we instantly took advantage of that. My feet were very happy about it. Girls either pulled out their little air mattresses and took a nap or stuck their feet in the water.

After some rest, we set up camp.

This sign tells about the beautiful water color of the falls and streams around the area.

After we were all set, we walked back to Havasu Falls for some swimming.

It was SO pretty.

I got this video of Jinny jumping off this tiny little cliff while others cheered her on. Just a couple of minutes after this was taken, a big thunderstorm rolled in and we took off as fast as our tired legs would carry us back to make sure rain flies were on tents, and that all our gear was put away. It rained for almost 2 hours. We were soaked and pretty cold. We constructed a little shelter out of some tarps and ate pretty early. We just chatted and played games until bedtime.

I shared a tent with Jinny. In the morning, she found a squished frog under her little air mattress. Poor little guy!

We did some yoga to stretch out our super sore muscles before the day's adventures.

We hiked down to Mooney Falls. This is at the rim just before going down. I had to get a shot of our little JCHS class of '95 group.

We had to hike down a pretty shear rock face descending through some tunnel/cave like things. It was pretty crazy but cool.

I took this from the bottom looking up at some of what we had to climb down. It was crazier than it looks.

These falls were even bigger than the Havasu one!

We were pretty hot and nasty from that short little hike and people immediately headed for the water. We played around the falls for a bit.

I took a little video of the the girls out there to give an idea of how loud and powerful the falls were.

There were only a few from out group who didn't hike down to the falls so this is most of us.

After our little photo op, we went down river because some of the girls who'd been before remembered a rope swing down a bit. It was a very pretty walk.

I loved this little spot.

We found the rope swing but the river was too low to do much. Some of the girls still played on it, but it was a good lunch stop for us too. We heard some thunder on our walk back and booked it back to camp again. We kind of packed up and started readying for our journey back up the canyon.

I taped up all my sore and blistered spots to protect them on the way up. I had been blistered by my hiking shoes and my Chacos (water shoes) so my feet were in pretty bad shape, but the duct tape really did help. The hike up was pretty brutal for me. It was a killer getting up to the village. The group I was in hiked pretty fast too, so I'd say that of the 9 miles to the switchbacks, about 7-8 of them were cardio exercise for me. I had to take the switchbacks slow because I was pretty much out of energy by that point.

Here's the Joseph City crew at the top. L-R: Jinny, Jill, Julie, Me, Cindy Brown, Ginger, and Jolynn. It was really good to see everyone. I hadn't seen the Browns since the end of my 8th grade year!

Janet found a puppy up there that was a trail dog that had been abandoned. There was a Navajo lady up there that told Janet she could have the dog so she took it with her.

We made it back to our motel and slept REALLY well. Those were the smallest double beds I'd ever seen. Jinny, Julie, and Jill were in my room.

We had breakfast that next morning at the Roadkill Cafe before heading out.

After picking up/dropping people off, we went down to Jinny's house in Gilbert. It was great to see her little family. They were so great and so much fun.

Her daughter Rylee had some fun braiding my braids. She was so sweet.

Jinny's son Mason took me out to see the scorpions in the backyard. They found out that if you shine blacklights out in the dark, you can find the scorpions because they light up. I couldn't hold still enough to get a very good shot because I set my shutter to be open for so long, but you can kind of get an idea. It was pretty cool.

This morning, my mom helped me take out the 29 braids she'd put in for me before my trip.

The suggestion was made for me to brush my hair after that and this was the result!

This is not really related to my hike, but had to throw this cute little thing in. We stopped by my dad's office today to pick him up for a matinee of Thor. I love my family!

Covington

2011-07-07T00:18:00.011-05:00

It's been a great visit with my family here in Covington.

My brother likes to "chop" and "poke" his sisters. I had him pose for the picture right after he said one of my favorite quotes. I asked him why he always has to chop and this is his response, "I'm Asian - that's what we do!" It totally cracked me up.

One of our first things to do as a family was to head out to Bremerton. We went out to the Pier and walked around for awhile.

My dad posed next to this statue.

The main reason we headed to Bremerton was to take the ferry right to Seattle. I took this one of my parents. If you look closely in the background, you can see Mt. Rainier.

The scenery was so amazing!

I got a better shot of Rainier. I'm glad we went on a clear day.

I got this one as we were coming into Seattle.

Here's the fam (minus the Warrs)!

We spent a lot of time at home. My dad was up to his garden business here. This furrower was pretty cool. It's super old.

Last Sunday we had the Hongs over for dinner. They're good friends of mine that I met in Houston, but have moved to the Seattle area. It was great to see them.

Adam really liked playing with their son.

On the 4th of July, my parents and I woke up super early to go on a hike up to Twin Falls. Right off the bat, my dad found these huge raspberries that we snacked on a little.

The hike was so beautiful. It reminded me a lot of my hike up to the Laughton Glacier in Alaska last summer.

Some of it reminded me of Hawaii!

I loaded my big frame backpack up and brought it to get in some practice with it since I'm going on my Havasupai hike in just a couple of days.

There were some big fir trees that were pretty impressive. My parents posed for me in front of this one. They don't look overly happy, but we were having a great time!

I caught the sun coming over this ridge.

Up at the falls, they have these wooden bridges that were pretty cool.

I think this is the highest waterfall in the area.

This is the big one just below it a little.

Cute mom posing in front of the big waterfall.

That backpack made me work pretty hard. You can probably tell by my red face. The sad thing is that it was in the 50s and I'm going to be hiking 7-8 miles further and in temperatures 30-40 degrees warmer soon.

Here's another giant fir tree!

We went home after the hike and went to a movie called "Super 8" and we all loved it. Not too long after that, we started up the grill for our 4th of July BBQ.

Maren from good old Joseph City joined us. I hadn't seen her for quite awhile and was glad to see another familiar face. She's been living in the Seattle area for almost 10 years.

I had to throw in a picture of cute little Ruffian. Poor little guy is starting to lose his hearing. He's about 12 years old.

Ruffy actually was begging to come kayaking with us. Adam and I are out on the kayaks in this picture.

We went to a cute little lake called Lake Morton. This picture is of my mom and Adam.

They had some pretty lily pads there.

My mom and I headed to the temple tonight. When we came out, the sun was almost down, it was just showing on the spire. I head out in the morning for my quick trip to AZ!

Moscow

2011-06-29T15:47:00.012-05:00

I really enjoyed my time in Moscow with Adam, Susannah, and Evie!

Not long after we got back from Lake Powell, Susannah and I babysat her friend April's little baby. When April got back, she taught us how to knit these little baby ballet slippers.

She had found the pattern and adjusted it a little bit and they turned out so cute. This is mine almost done.

Here are the knitters. Mine didn't turn out quite as cute as April's. I console myself with that being only the second knitting project I've ever done!

My parents came later that day. My dad had work meetings in Moscow for a few days. We were watching a movie here. Evie had been watching intently, but when the camera beeped she looked over.

We also went out to a cute park for a BBQ one night. Something we ate there really ended up bothering us girls. I got sick the next day, Susannah was sick the day after me, and my mom caught it after that. We each had it only for about 24 hours, but it was not fun!

Here's cute little Evie enjoying the weather and her Grandma Bushman.

When we got home that night, there was an impressive sunset. Sorry, you might be able to see the screen on the window. If you look closely, you can see a rainbow in the middle of the picture.

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I think this was the same night, but we were saying a family prayer before they put Evie to bed and we heard this loud lip smacking. Most of us didn't find out until after the prayer that it was Evie. I got it a few times on video. Sorry it's so dark.

I loved watching Evie in her jumper. She loves that thing. I was watching her and noticed it got really quiet all of a sudden. This is what I saw. So cute!

On Saturday, we went yard sale-ing. I got this cute one of Evie and Adam at one of the sales.

We then drove out to this nature preserve that's about 30 minutes out of Moscow. The drive was so pretty and this picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

We went on a little hike. Susannah got this backpack/carrier for her baby shower and this was the maiden voyage. She wore it for the first little bit . . .

then I nabbed it to start practicing for my Havasupai trip in a few weeks.

She fell asleep. I'm not sure how - it can't have been a very smooth ride!

Susannah tried some more baby food with Evie and we were a little more successful with carrots than with the blended veggies.

I sure love that little girl! :) Thanks, Warrs, for letting me hang out with you!

Yucky Veggies

2011-06-20T19:55:00.006-05:00

I will admit that I'm being a bit of a post thief right now, but I was just too excited about being around for a couple of "firsts" for little Evie.

Here she is donning the bib I got for her in Alaska last summer. She's preparing for her first food. She's had milk, formula, and rice cereal, but Susannah decided to try some baby food. This particular kind is called Country Garden Vegetables.

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Here's the video I took of her first and subsequent bites. She doesn't seem to like veggies . . . AT ALL!

After the video I grabbed my camera and took some still shots and they really make me laugh!!!!

She just looked out the window like this for a long time. She was pretty mad and didn't want to make eye contact, apparently.

Susannah tried some rice cereal afterward to get the taste out of her mouth, but she wasn't in the mood to eat ANYTHING from that spoon!

The other first I observed yesterday was Evie rolling from her stomach to her back. What a nice Father's Day present for Adam!

Family Visits

2011-06-20T18:29:00.005-05:00

I was really excited that Lake Powell is so close to St. George where my Grandma Evans, Aunt Norma, and Uncle Darl live. Susannah and I really wanted to stop in for a visit...

and especially wanted my grandma to see Evie and for Evie to have met my grandma. You can see that my aunt printed out a picture of Evie to prep my grandma that we were coming. Grandma is 96 years old! She's had lots of health issues lately, but is really fighting.

I thought this picture was so sweet with Evie putting her hand on Grandma's shoulder.

It was great to see Uncle Darl and Aunt Norma too! They were so nice and even made us a delicious lunch!

We had to get all of us in with Grandma. I set my timer so I look a little stressed.

Grandma enjoyed watching Evie jump on her bed.

I love this one of Evie holding Grandma's hand.

Sadly we didn't get to stay that long. We had to get back on the road to head up to Spanish Fork to stay with my cousin Daylen.

We did have to stop to feed Evie and to take a picture of this amazing sunset!

Daylen and Scarlet's kids were so cute with Evie and all wanted to hold her. This is their youngest - Valeska.

Here are the kiddos. There are lots of pictures like this one because they all wanted to hold Evie and they all wanted a picture of it. Cute kids.

Here's the whole family complete with their dog "Tex!" Daylen's hilarious.

Later that same day we met up with Adam and picked him up. We headed up to Boise but stopped for a quick visit with his maternal grandparents. Grandma Bell gave Evie a ginger snap. Her memory's going a little bit. She'd asked about giving Evie a cracker earlier and Susannah let her know that Evie was just drinking milk, but she forgot and gave her the cookie. She's so sweet. This is the aftermath of about 30 seconds of sucking on that cookie! :)

Powell

2011-06-20T16:51:00.013-05:00

I left Joseph City and made the 3 hour and 15 minute trip to Lake Powell which is right on the border of AZ and UT.

Adam's parents own a time share on a house boat out there so most of Adam's family went and I was lucky enough to join them. While this post is about Lake Powell, I will forewarn you that this is also an Evie post! Chris, bought this sailor hat for Madelin, Adam's niece, but we tried it out on Evie first. She was too cute.

Here's a shot of some of the scenery to the east of where they anchored the house boat.

Sunday these 3 and I headed into Page to go to church. On the way back we stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam for some pictures. It was an impressive sight. I didn't take any good pictures of the dam itsself.

We did get one of me with my cute little niece!

One of the momentous occasions on this trip was Evie's first swim. She was so cute in her new little swim suit.

We were pretty impressed that she didn't react terribly to the 67 degree water. She really seemed to enjoy her tube.

She REALLY loved sucking on that water noodle, though.

Madelin caught a little lizard that she loved. She rescued it from a little rock island affectionately named Lizard Island, by Madelin, I believe.

Evie was definitely the most popular girl on the boat. Here she is with her Aunt Erika.

Her Aunt Whitney took her for a spin on the lazy susan. We all enjoyed that one.

Grandpa and Grandma Warr enjoyed some time with little Evie at the back of the boat one evening.

Miss stylish Evie had another cute swim suit too and got decked out for swim #2.

This one was not as fun for her, but she put up with it for a little bit.

Here she is chillin in the tube.

Susannah took her out in the shallow warmer water to stick her feet in. It was really cute.

Happy girl!

I love these two together!

Super cute!

I had them pose in front of the houseboat.

Rick was teaching Madelin some scuba essentials. She's going to start taking classes to get certified. I'm jealous!

Close-up of the cutie!

Here's Captain Evie with Grandpa Warr on the speed boat.

Ready to drive already!

There was an amazing moon out most of the nights we were there so Susannah and I had to try out hands at capturing some night shots.

I was pretty proud of this one.

One of my favorite things we did was two of the nights, Vic took us out in the speed boat for some sunset rides. It was so pretty and I wish this picture could do it justice.

This was the best night for the moon. I couldn't get a super clear shot because the boat was rocking and the shutter on the camera stayed open for a long time to capture all the light. It was an amazing view, though!

Evie and Susannah are enjoying the evening air.

A lot of fishing went on as well. I think Whitney caught the biggest fish - this striper.

Adam caught this catfish from off the back of the houseboat. I was on the top deck and got this picture looking down.

Susannah netted it for him. . .

and he removed the hook. They just did catch and release.

Here's the crew the morning Susannah, Evie and I left.

I got back to my car and was shocked to see how high the lake had risen!

Here's a better shot of it. There was a tow slip on it, so I narrowly missed having to pay an impound fee. I also narrowly missed having to get a new car!!!!!!!!!

I borrowed this picture from Deej. This is the crew who was left after we left. Also, Rick and Gabe had left a few days before us. What a fun trip!

Joseph City

2011-06-20T16:34:00.005-05:00

My first stop on my summer vacation/roadtrip was to my hometown in Joseph City. I will preface this post with the disclaimer that I wasn't a very good photographer on this leg. I got a lot of pictures of some events and not any of others. Sorry!

I stayed with my Aunt Karen and didn't even get a picture of her!!!!!! Yikes! My first activity was to be taken to lunch at El Rancho in Holbrook by my two good friends, Kristal and Trina. I didn't think to get the camera out until after lunch when we were at Safeway. Kristal posed for me.

Here are the 3 of us in front of the famous Wigwam Motel there in Holbrook which is about 10 miles from Joseph City.

The next evening I got to hang out with my best friend Jinny's parents. They also invited the Mulders so it was a regular party. Linda went way out on everything. We had a fruit tray to start things off.

Here are all the Mulder guys. I went with their family to Flagstaff that morning and watched Kung Fu Panda 2, but didn't take any pictures of that whole trip!

Linda made everything so cute!

Their backyard was just perfect.

Here she is dishing up the kids.

Here I am with the Millers. Rich just retired!

I did snap this cute one of my cousin, Nancy. She's always a lot of fun!

One of the mornings Trina and I went to the temple in Snowflake. Kim met us there. She was my road trip buddy from Houston to JC, but I didn't take any pictures of that. After the temple we went out to lunch. Other things I forgot to take pictures of:

*BUNCO night with Aunt Karen and Nella (with lots of other fun ladies)

*Visiting a BIG Hansen BBQ with tons of fun and cool people

*I didn't even go to Jackrabbit this time around or snap any pictures of the John Bushman home! Shame on me! It was a great trip, though!

The end of a decade!!!!

2011-06-02T19:10:00.004-05:00

I can't believe this school year is over! Furthermore, I can't believe that after 10 years, I'm leaving teaching to try something new! I had to post about my last few days at PFE.

What first grade school year can officially come to an end without some sort of production? We put on our Little Red Riding Hood Reader's Theater for the parents a few weeks ago. These 4 were my actors for Little Red. We switched at scenes so more kids could have parts.

I didn't put all the pictures on here, but this one cracks me up. These two were the "grannies" in the play.

Here's the class in front of the background the day before we did our play. It turned out really cute.

The other day I pulled up to the school and saw this terrible sight! Our school was majorly tagged by someone. This is after it had been power washed too. They've covered it up now, but how sad is that?

On the last day of school (yesterday) we had a yearbook signing outside under the pavilion. The kids were crazy, but they looked cute in the bucket hats we gave them.

Here's my awesome team!

. . . and my crazy class.

I had to jump in the picture with them one last time.

After the kids had gone home, they called the staff into the library and it was a surprise party for me that my team had thrown. How sweet! They made it Hawaii themed because they knew I loved Hawaii and that I'm going at the end of the summer.

Here are 3 of the culprits.

Here we are again. These ladies are so sweet and I have loved getting to know all the great people at PFE. I'm sure I'll really miss everyone, but am looking forward to this new chapter in my life!

Watches!

2011-06-02T19:06:00.003-05:00

For my birthday, my awesome Relief Society President and friend, Kenna, made me an awesome watch that I LOVE. She offered to teach our presidency how to make them and I was all for it. My co-worker, Janelle, had complimented me on my watch and wanted to learn how to make them as well, so I invited her to be part of the fun!

Kenna had like 6 big containers full of beads and all sorts of goodies so we set to work last Thursday night. The one on the left was made by Stacee. She wasn't quite done when I took this picture. Janelle made the next one over. I made the 3rd one and the last is the one that Kenna made me. They have lobster claws to attach them to the watch faces, so I just change my bands back and forth now. I LOVE IT!

Here's the crew right before Janelle had to leave: Kenna, Stacee, Janelle, and Cheryl! I had to go out that weekend and start my own bead collection! :)

Random

2011-05-15T21:49:00.003-05:00

I've had a few random things lately that I haven't posted about yet so I thought I'd combine them into one small post.

This first one is definitely not a small event, just a small person. My cousin Dannen and his wife Claudia just had their third baby - another little girl named Brooke. I went to see her last Sunday and she is SOOO cute! She's so tiny and it really made me realize just how much Evie has grown.

Here's my Aunt Maylene holding a sleepy little Brooke! :) So sweet!

One of my students came into school this last week dressed like this. Here's how our little conversation went:

J: Am I wearing a huge shirt?

Me: Yes.

I don't know why, but his rhetorical question struck me really funny.

This last one is something I never thought I'd do, but alas, today it happened to me. I was invited to a BBQ after church today. I took a nap before it then got up and went to my closet to put on some comfy shoes. I went to the BBQ and hung out for at least 1 1/2 hours before I happened to notice that I was wearing mismatched shoes! AAAAHHHH!

100 Songs in 100 Days

2011-05-14T10:21:00.002-05:00

My friend Katherine introduced me to her friend Nancy who's taken on a different, but really cool challenge. She's writing 100 songs in 100 days!

This is her first one. She explains a little about it in this first one. I knew Nancy's sister Carrie from some of my first years in Houston. Great girls - both of them!

Her second song really cracked me up.

Like she stated in that first video, she was looking for others to sing. I happen to know these two ladies and thought they did a great job!

I also really liked this guy's singing. He's in a band himself!

Cute with her nieces!

These aren't my favorite vocals, but I know this guy! He's from where my parents used to live in San Angelo. Small world! Anyway, I just pulled a few songs off of her blog. Check it out HERE! She doesn't have videos on all of her songs, but what a great challenge!

Susannah and Evie

2011-05-07T23:36:00.010-05:00

Disclaimer: Anyone who has recently read my sister's blog will find this post very redundant, but I couldn't resist posting about Susannah and Evie's visit to see me!

They flew in on a Friday night and we spent most of Saturday entertaining visitors to see the cute girls. Holt and Candice were the first to come.

Seana also came.

We had sort of a party that night and had a great turn out. We didn't get everyone that came, but this is the tail end of the party.

Sunday Evie looked so cute and was so smiley that I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

I love that girl!

After church we had a family dinner. There were a lot of us, so we got pretty creative with seating. Dannen and Claudia's girls sat at this little coffee table of Jen's.

We brought the kitchen table in tot he dinning room. It was a full house.

The girls loved Evie. It was really cute to see them. I'm sure it helped that their mom was about to have another little girl. Baby Brooke was born the next day!

Monday morning we went to visit a retired co-worker, Lila. Evie LOVED her. It was so cute.

We love Lila too!

Later that day we went to a photo shoot that one of Susannah's previous student's parents did for her. Evie was not very chipper. She was so tired, but this woman got some FANTASTIC shots of Evie!

So cute.

She was scowling most of the time. It was hilarious.

Blowing bubbles.

Smiling for Mommy!

It took a LONG time to get a decent picture of her on her tummy. She was not a happy camper and kept putting her face down on the blanket.

We tried a walk on Tuesday, but the wind wasn't so fun for little Evie.

She was in a better mood later on as we went to see the Chappells.

They were so sweet and got us dinner. We had a great time visiting with them!

That last night Susannah realized that we didn't really have any pictures of Evie and me so she snapped this one.

They flew out on Wednesday after a visit to school. My students loved it. I can't blame them!

Some School Stuff

2011-05-06T23:11:00.003-05:00

I've had several cool school related things lately that I thought I'd share all in one post.

We had a first grade mom donate a bunch of larva. We passed them out and watched the metamorphosis. The kids loved it. We kept the butterflies for a little while and then let them go. It's something we enjoy every year.

During our South America unit, I had the kids do a mini research project on a rainforest animal. They had to present something simple about the animal they studied. One of my students went REALLY above and beyond.

Her mom sent in a BUNCH of fruit and some nuts. She had studied about gorillas.

She even sent in lettuce leaves for the kids to use as plates. I thought it was so cute and so clever. The kids loved it.

I had this little guy show me his "plate."

They came back for seconds and thirds.

It was teacher appreciation week this week. I had a mom send in this whole "cookie" for me. The day before she sent me a whole cake. Holy cow!

Last night I went to AMS for an orchestra concert. One of my old students invited me to it. I saw two other old students in the group. They were really good!

I can't believe how grown up they are! I can't believe how fast time goes by.

I was only going to film a little bit, but I couldn't stop. I loved it! The sound in this video doesn't do them justice. I think it was 95 string players and it sounded really good in real life.

On the far right of the video are 30 something string players from Atascocita HS. It was awesome!

My Birthday

2011-05-06T22:40:00.004-05:00

I had a great birthday back on the 25th of April.

When I got to school I had a few surprises waiting for me. One was this little get-up. Tricia got me the hat and I wore it all day except for out at recess and dismissal duties. It was too windy. The button was from our school's student council. I was so happy to see Dylan Frye back in class on my birthday. It was a good day for him.

I actually had a really productive day. I vacuumed that morning, had a good day at school, mowed my lawn, showered, and made it to dinner with some great friends!

We came back to my house for some dessert and I was surprised with Katherine's flamingos.

Her mom and sister put 30 pink flamingos in her yard on her 30th birthday and she's had fun with them ever since. I was glad to be part of the fun!

Both of my roommates made a birthday treat. Jen made me the usual and delicious chocolate chip cheesecake. Kristin made me these chocolate peanut butter bars that were also very delicious.

It was in the fridge like this on my birthday eve and I was very curious. I'm proud to say that I didn't peek!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:24:00.000-05:00

Impressive

2011-04-24T21:18:00.003-05:00

I received two emails on my school account today that I was really impressed with. Both are regarding the death of Donny Frye that I posted about a couple of posts below this one.

The first one I got was forwarded on to our school from Donny's dad. This is what he wrote:

Friends and Family

Our God who made our magnificent universe as demonstrated in the attached link is the author of all. I believe it's even greater in scale than the link below shows. As visible matter is mostly space, I can in my mind believe we are in a spirit existence now because we really don't understand what matter really is. It (matter) fills a void with infinitesimal points of energy and force in a vastly large expanse. Our God is an Awesome God. I remember as a boy looking at the vastness of space and the stars one night and asked God to explain it all to me someday. I have been intrigued by our universe ever since. I believe God's majesty is infinite including what we see and perceive and what we can't see.

He continues to create. He takes tragedy and despair and if we let him he will raise up new life and spirit like a phoenix. In this realm that we are in we have free will and we are touched by the free will of others. Sometimes this causes pain even severe heartbreak and other times it results in joy penultimate. If we trust in him and turn all our fears and pain over to him we are promised peace. I believe with all my heart that he has taken my son to his home and that he is at peace in a special room in his mansion (maybe even the heavenly golf course). I will see him again. I pray that all may feel the joy I have knowing that my son is doing just fine and having a ball with Jesus our Father.

I am sure that Donny hurts for us as we mourn and cry. I have always known that all my children are blessings from God and are on loan, but it doesn't seem real that they can be called away until it really happens.

Our family and our friends have experienced what can only be described as miracles which confirm that Donny is safe in God's arms. This is particularly meaningful for us at Easter. As Karen so beautifully stated during Donny's service, " The tomb is empty". My son is with God. What more can an earthly father mother want for their child.

What I have learned through all the recent events ls that the living suffer the loss and the pain of death. God has a way of bringing us down to earth and reminding us to hold each of us dear while we are here. I only ask that you hug more and tell others that you love them. Talk to strangers and hold people's hands. Love conquers evil. We are not promised tomorrow. We ALL after all are on a voyage with many forks in a road that is strewn with sharp jagged rocks. Pray that ALL God's children choose the right path and that we all trust and believe in Jesus our Lord.

Forgive those that cause us pain. They have not experienced Jesus or the love of family or friends. We need to reach out to them.

Have a Blessed Easter

Lovingly

Don

The second is from Donny's wife, Liz - my co-worker and friend. What amazing people!

My dear PFE family,

I don't know where to begin to thank you all for EVERTYTHING you have done. The reality of this tragedy is still unconceivable and I really can't imagine how we will go on, but I know that we will. We will because we have to. We will because God continues to lift us up by giving us absolutely incredible people like you! My heart aches for those who feel such pain but do not have the support of an entire community like we do.

Your prayers have been felt, your words have been heard. I feel God's loving hold through you and I just can't thank you enough. Many people have been asking how they can help and I must tell you, our cup over floweth. Humbly, I ask you to "pay it forward." What ever you were going to do for me and my family, I beg that you pass it on to someone else, anyone you meet who is hurting. Donny was so generous and really spread his happiness where ever he went. We all have the power to change the world, one kind act at a time. I KNOW this is true, because your outpouring of love and well wishes truly have changed our world. Each kind word fills this gaping hole in my heart.

I love you all,

Liz

Beach Camping

2011-04-24T20:14:00.005-05:00

This last Easter weekend, I went camping at the beach with some friends.

We didn't have school on Thursday or Friday. Thursday I just took it easy, but I headed out on Friday in the early afternoon to Galveston. It took quite awhile to get over there because of traffic and waiting on the ferry.

Once we got out there, it got overcast. I liked it just because I didn't have to worry too much about getting sunburned. It was really nice weather - just a little windy. I like being able to see those oil rigs way out in the gulf.

It was so pretty with the little sandy hills out there.

There's been a drought around here so there was burn ban. Katherine purposefully didn't bring wood because of that, but the rangers said we could have a fire on the beach, so we gathered a bunch of driftwood. We had a pretty good fire.

Just a nice shot down the beach. A lot of that mossy stuff had washed up on the shore. There were jellyfish in there so we had to be careful where we walked.

There were a lot of seagulls around. Something I hadn't ever noticed was that there were Arctic Terns down there! Daniel Farmer is a bird buff and he spotted some. Cool beans!

Here he is feeding the birds. It was a great time. I only took pictures for a little bit, but we had some sun on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, just really windy. We found some dewberry bushes and had a nice little breakfast of them!

Fun Folks

2011-04-24T20:05:00.005-05:00

I've had a few fun get-togethers lately.

One was for Stacie's birthday a day early. Her birthday is exactly a week before mine. We had dinner at the Cook's house and it was delicious as expected. She made this cake that was amazing to look at and to eat!

Megan was in town to move her stuff out of storage by house. She's moving to Hawaii this summer and will stay next school year so we had a big yard sale to get rid of her stuff. That yard sale was CRAZY! People were at my house grabbing stuff up before we'd even brought everything out!

Here's a close-up of this delicious cake! It was a 3 layer chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream between each of the layers.

Happy about cake . . . for good reason!

Delicious!

Here's a group picture. We'd had a few leave by this point, but didn't think of a picture until later! Great time with great people.

The next day we got together for dinner at Alisi's Hawaiian food place. It was kind of a good bye dinner for Jared who's going up to Alaska for work. He's leaving poor Kristin here until school's out, but he has to get up there because his job starts soon. The good part of all this is that Kristin gets to live with us for a little over a month.

Don Frye

2011-04-17T23:16:00.005-05:00

This last week was a crazy one - very sad. Many of you readers who are in the Houston area may have heard about a murder that happened in Atascocita on Monday evening. The man who was shot and killed in his driveway was the husband of my co-worker Liz and the father of my student Dylan.

This is a picture of Don that I took from another co-worker's Facebook page.

Don was a father of 3 - the youngest is the one in my class. He's on the right. I found this picture of him and his kids on his daughter's Facebook page.

I had only met Don a few times, but have really gotten to know and love his wife Liz. I borrowed this photo from Janelle's Facebook photos too.

As of last Thursday night, detectives had no suspects and no leads, so Don's friends, family and neighbors decided to hold a candlelight vigil where they'd pass out flyers about it asking for any information. The did notify the press to get the word out. I got this picture of the channel 12 news van. HERE'S what they had to say about it.

The turn out was incredible. Of the three news stations, it was stated that there were between 200 and 300 people there. Fox news had THIS to say.

I had my friend and co-worker hold up my candle while I took a picture of the scene. HERE'S what the local CBS station had to say about the vigil.

These signs were put up all over the community. To everyone's relief, an arrest was made on Friday morning. I hope it had something to do with people's efforts in getting the word out about what happened. HERE'S the article about the suspect who's being charged. Please keep Liz and her family in your prayers!

Ice Hockey

2011-04-02T22:28:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I met a group of friends to go downtown for my first ice hockey game.

We went to see the Houston Aeros take on the team from Oklahoma City. I liked the actual hockey part, but did NOT like the fighting. I don't mind the "checking" against the glass, but there were several instances where gloves were thrown down and it was an old fashioned fist fight. The refs just stood there while the crowd jumped to its feet shouting "Fight! Fight!" I don't think I was the only one in our group who wasn't too happy about it. People were using smart phones to find out some info. I guess where "real" hockey is played, in the northeast US, Canada, and Europe, they don't put up with it. Google also told us that many "not for real" teams recruit fighters instead of hockey players to promote the fighting. Ridiculous! I was particularly disturbed because we were there because Kim's school choir was singing at it. Several other schools were there too. The kids were in on the "fight" shouting which really disturbed me. Am I the only one?

It was still a fun night with fun people, though.

Needless to say, hockey probably won't be on my list of things to do in the Houston area anymore!

New Zealand

2011-04-02T22:14:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago I got a new student. She was from New Zealand. Her family was from Christchurch and they moved here after the earthquake because they didn't have power, water, or other things. They also started offering cheap flights to leave, so they came to visit family here in TX for a little while.

Here she is with her dad the day they left. I thought I'd post their story as written by her dad in an email to me.

Isabelle and I were both in downtown Christchurch at her school when the earthquake hit. The feeling was one of utter helplessness as I watched children, furniture, and my own body just hurled about the room as though a giant had picked up our school and shaken it like a baby's rattle. But as bad as the quake itself was, the aftermath was in some ways worse. We had to evacuate the children immediately out of the building and into the streets of Christchurch with basically no preparation or warning. Many of the children had no shoes on, most had only shorts and t-shirts and we had to walk for miles through the destroyed landscape of our once beautiful city past the rubble of collapsed cathedrals and 18th century buildings and the shattered plate glass of still standing but smashed modern structures. By the time we reached Hagley Park (a bit like New York's Central Park), the weather was turning overcast and cool and chaos reigned supreme - with little sign of any kind of organized effort to shelter or transport our children out of the city center. As the afternoon turned darker and cooler our teacher advised that those of us that thought we could get out should get out while it was still daylight. So Isa and myself and another 5 year old boy Jarrod (who I had taken in with our carpool that day) started walking out. We walked past 6 inch wide, meter deep cracks in the earth along the banks of the Avon river, trying to find an undamaged bridge over the swollen silt filled water. At one point a particularly strong aftershock hit which just knocked the streams of walking refugees flat onto the ground. We decided to try first for my workplace to see if anyone there could help us. When we arrived at the 3 story glass and steel office building we saw a small crowd milling outside who told us the building had been evacuated (with no serious injuries, fortunately) and I looked up to see the smashed glass of my own office window I used to look out and the apparent destruction within. At this point I really realized the gravity of the situation and the very heavy responsibility of making sure Jarrod was safely returned to his Mother and hoped that I had made the right decision in choosing to leave the group assembled in the park. Knowing that Isa and Jarrod could not walk much farther I flagged down a random car and asked for help - the woman let us in and told us she was going to Southshore which - as one of the amazing blessings and miracles of the day - is where we live. We then spent the next 7 hours and 3/4 tank of fuel to travel a distance of only 15 km - through gridlock, detours, flooded roads, even cars sticking up vertically from the road where they had fallen into sinkholes, to eventually arrive home safe to our (another blessing) lightly damaged house. Unfortunately, although safe, we had no water, power, or sewer services and the interior of our house was a big mess - particularly Isa's bedroom. Interestingly, she had not cried or acted scared the entire day, but she saw her own home and bedroom in such shambles she broke down and told me she was frightened.

There is of course more to the story of how one week later we eventually made it to Humble, but I just wanted to share a bit about what Isa and I have been through so you might understand how grateful we are to be here at Isa's grandparents house and at your lovely school. Perhaps this will also help you to understand why I need to be near Isa and she needs to know that I am close and that her world is 100% safe right now.

Spring Break

2011-03-20T21:20:00.003-05:00

I think this is the first spring break in my whole 10 years of teaching that I've just stayed home. I LOVED IT! Things have been so busy at school and everything, that I just needed to relax and also get things done around the house.

One of the things I did was yard work. When it came to cleaning out this front flower bed, I decided to get some help so I wouldn't have to haul mulch by myself. here's a before shot of the bed.

I got some flowers and plants for the guys to plant as well as clean things out and mulch.

Here's the finished product. Much better!

Here's a close-up of these flowers that I got. I love them! Here's to being relaxed, organized, and having my house all clean (and my report cards done)!

Rodeo

2011-03-13T21:33:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again in the Houston area!

I don't think there's a bigger event here than the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I've gone for a lot of the almost 10 years I've lived here and this year was no exception. We headed down to Reliant Stadium.

I was in for a very pleasant surprise during the rodeo. One of the bull riders was Cord McCoy. I never really saw his face because of this helmet.

We were on the other side of the arena from him as well. That's him way over there on the bull.

Most of you might not know who he is, but for fans of The Amazing Race, one of my favorite shows, he's one of the two "cowboys" that are on the show for the second time right now.

He's running the race with his brother Jet (left). I felt pretty famous that I got to see him riding a bull! He took first too!

We met Katherine there at the rodeo. She had her cute little nephew Ty with her too!

Once the rodeo portion was over, it was time for the concert. We saw Martina McBride and she was SO GOOD! That woman has a serious range!

Here's our little group. Jen and Wendy rode with me to and from the rodeo.