Summer Travels Begin!

This summer's fun travels have definitely begun.

It all started for me last Friday, June 18th, as Jen dropped me off at Katherine's. Kath's roommate Katie was headed to Austin and graciously allowed me to join her. My mom met us in Austin and I drove with her to San Angelo.

It was a little bit of a sad sight for me to see once we arrived. The moving van had already left and the house was pretty empty.

They even took the frige!

Here's a shot of the parents and my brother outside their house, which still hasn't sold, by the way! Anyone interested?

Here they are close up. We were on our way over to their fun neighbors' house for dinner.

Their kids are so cute and a lot of fun. They've gotten really close to my parents and Adam. Here's little Liam playing peek-a-boo in a box my dad brought over.

Nicole got Adam to do some grilling and it turned out REALLY well. Adam's discovered some culinary skills recently.

Here's some of the spread Nicole had for us! It was so good! Notice the corn. That's from my dad's garden. They got to enjoy the first patch before they left. Hopefully their neighbors enjoy all the corn and other goodies to come!

Here's my dad playing with cute little Liam. He loves to squish his face. Too bad Liam saw me filming or we may have seen some more cute smiles!

In this video my dad and Adam are trying to get Liam to clap with the backs of his hands. It's a family joke stemming from a time my family played the game of Balderdash and my dad made up a ridiculous definition of the word "Morris," defining it as a clapping using the backs of your hands.

Here's everyone there except for me! CUTE! My family is REALLY going to miss them!

We left San Angelo Saturday morning and headed to my favorite town - Joseph City! This is my Aunt Karen's house. She's just had the outside redone and it looks GREAT! I wouldn't have even recognized it at all!

Kim was home visiting her mom in Snowflake, so I invited her to come on over to play some games at Trina's house. We had a lot of fun and loved playing with Trina's 3 month old baby!

We went to church on Sunday then headed out, but not before I could get my traditional picture on the Jack Rabbit!

Here's our little caravan. My parents were in the Tacoma the whole way and Adam and I were in the Honda.

We were only going as far as St. George, UT that night, so we made a few little stops along the way. The first was at this bridge not too far from the Grand Canyon. It was so beautiful. The scenery was spectacular!

The cliffs and rocks were amazing and the water was so clear!

We went down to Lee's ferry, a pretty famous area for the Mormon Pioneers sent by Brigham Young from UT down to settle parts of Northern AZ. They had to cross this river somewhere and it was pretty perilous! The mountains beyond my mom are what my dad called "Lee's backbone."

This is one of several shots I got of the cliffs.

Once we got settled in our hotel in St. George, we headed over to my Aunt Norma and Uncle Darl's house. My grandma also lives there. It was a fun little visit and they fed us some delicious food!

We also drove by the beautiful St. George temple that night.

We visited them one more time Monday morning then headed over to visit my Uncle Bob and Aunt Vicki who are also in St. George.

Our next stop was Cafe Rio in Provo. I called ahead and had Collette meet us there. It was so good to see her!

We then headed up to Layton to visit my Aunt Janice and Uncle Norman who weren't too keen on posing for a picture for me. I did get a shot of this flower in their backyard which I thought was beautiful!

Keeping with the "friends meeting me along the way" theme, I was lucky enough to have Allie and her little Megan meet me at Janice's house for a quick visit! So fun and so CUTE! Allie's due to have her second little girl in October! Congrats!

After Janice's we kept on going until we reached Twin Falls in Idaho. We spent the night there, then kind of switched things up. My parents continued on to Covington, WA where they're moving. There were some complications with the move out/move in dates so they were just going to have to stay in a hotel there for a few days, so Adam and I decided it would be fun to go up to Moscow to visit Susannah and Adam. We were in for some FANTASTIC scenery along the way. Northern ID is a beautiful part of the US that I don't think many people know about.

SO PRETTY! This is one of many shots we took, and we could have taken hundreds more. You'll have to visit sometime!

Truck Driver!!!!

Today was a good day. It was mainly spent getting ready for my big road trips this summer because I leave tomorrow, but I had some time for a few diversions!

Jen and I went and had lunch at this little place near the airport. They have some good Hawaiian food that I'm going to have to try again!

Then, I got to do something I've wanted to try for quite awhile - drive an 18 wheeler, well minus a few wheels. I just drove the truck without the trailer. Nate was driving one this week for work and was kind enough to let me try it out.

Even though I consider myself a pretty good driver, I was not a natural at this thing! Shifting was pretty hard for me, but I had a good time trying it out.

Here's a video Nate took of me. Watch it if you're bored. I didn't know he was filming at first and he got a good 5 minutes of embarrassing footage of me. We drove mostly in parking lots, but I did head out on Lee road for a short stint, and held up a few cars, because I couldn't figure things out fast enough. I was hoping it was "in the blood" to be a good truck driver, but apparently I'm not meant to do it! :)

Skeletons on the Zahara

I just got finished reading a pretty impressive book. It's a true story about an American ship called the Commerce left America in 1815 to do some trading in Africa. They get shipwrecked on the African Coast at a place called Cape Bojador. It's right on the Sahara. Eventually the crew is all captured by native tribes who enslave them. They're traded, beaten, starved, and suffer hugely through this book until they're finally rescued.

The author took this story from the narratives of the Captain - James Riley, and another from one of the "able seamen" named Archibald Robbins. Incidentally, Riley originally weighed 240 pounds, but at the time of his rescue, he weighed less than 90!

Besides being an amazing story of survival, I was particularly touched by some of the words spoken by a man who was trying to get these guys ransomed. They were running into all sorts of trouble, and Captain Riley, who has been very strong through this whole ordeal is getting frustrated and starting to give up hope. I'm going to just quote directly from the book in chapter 18, pages 281 & 282:

"Vowing to return in four days, Sheik Ali also departed, giving Riley and his men some breathing room to recover their wits and their strength. After coming so close to regaining their freedom, the wait was excruciating. They could do little to help themselves but rest. Bel Cossim tried to buoy their flagging spirits. When Riley complained to him that he doubted he would live long enough to see freedom, as he was 'extremely feeble and must soon perish,' bel Cossim admonished him: 'What! Dare you distrust the power of that God who as preserved you so long by miracles?' And he cajoled: 'No, my friend, the God of Heaven and of earth is your friend and will not forsake you; but in his own good time restore you to your liberty and to the embraces of your family.

"'We must say,' bel Cosim added philosophically, '"his will be done," and be contented with our lot, for God knows best what is for our good. We are all children of the same heavenly Father, who watches over all our actions, whether we be Moor, or Christian, or Pagan, or of any other religion; we must perform his will.' The Moor's tolerant thinking humbled Riley. 'To hear such sentiments from the mouth of a Moor, whose nation I had been taught to consider the worst of barbarians,' he admitted, 'filled my mind with awe and reverence, and I looked up to him as kind of a superior being.'"

Read it, folks!

Sad News

We got some sad news the other day. My cousin Brian's son passed away last week. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and I thought I'd share his obituary here!

Cody James Daybell
(April 7, 1988 - June 11, 2010)

Cody James Daybell, 22, returned to his Heavenly Father on Friday, June 11, 2010.

He was born April 7, 1988 in Layton Utah, the son of Bryan Glen Daybell and Teresa Marie Ballard. He was raised in Clinton, Utah, and also lived in Andrews, Texas with his mom, and Layton, Utah with his grandma Janice.

Cody was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.

He had worked in the construction industry and the oil fields of Texas. He enjoyed spending time with his friends and family and loved doing anything in the outdoors. He was especially good at snowboarding and he loved fishing, hunting, and camping.

Cody was blessed to have a huge family that loved and adored him and will miss him more than words can express. He is survived by his parents, Teresa Ballard, Bryan and Terrie Daybell, Shelly Dunn; his grandparents, Janice and Norman Connelly, Lynn Daybell, Claudine and Bruce Butters, Sharon & Bill Hudson, William Ballard; his great-grandmother, Laverne Evans. He was also survived by his three brothers, Zackary Daybell, Brandon (Taisha) Daybell, and Shawn McElroy; eleven sisters, Kelsey Daybell, Taira (Kyle) McMurray, Megan Posell, Charlie Ivins, Breann Goyen, Paige Ivins, Rachel (Eric) Russell, Jacklyn Posell, Jessica Posell, Bethanie Ballard, and Hataya McWhorter. He is also survived by his best friend, Jake Phelps and dozens of aunts, uncles, and cousins that loved him dearly.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday June 16th at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Roy Mortuary, 3333 West 5600 South.

The family will meet friends on Tuesday 6 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday from 9:30-10:45 a.m., at the mortuary.

Interment, Park City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the family in c/o Lindquist’s Roy Mortuary, 3333 West 5600 South.

Send condolences to the family at: www.lindquistmortuary.com

Little Robbie

This last week I had what I called on Facebook a "crash course in motherhood."

I got to babysit my old Bishop's grandson, Robbie, from Sunday June 6th to Saturday, June 12th. This first picture was from last Sunday. He's a smiley kid, but I couldn't get him to smile in a picture this first day.

Monday we got some good ones. I had Jen playing with him so I could get some good ones.

I love this face! He's 7 months old and about 22 pounds.

This is my absolute favorite picture from the whole week. He really loved taking baths and was so much fun!

Wednesday I took him blueberry picking. He was really good natured and I thought I'd be able to stay for awhile, but he was really enthralled with the leaves and he kept picking them and trying to eat them!

What a cute kid!

This a picture of a little mishap that happened! During one of Robbie's naps, I had taken a shower and was working on getting my hair done. He woke up before I was finished, so I changed him and had him laying on his back on my bed. I didn't have any of his toys upstairs, but I did have one of those little mini plastic bottles full of that sugary candy stuff that one of my students had given me at the end of school. It was sealed and still in the plastic wrapper and I thought it was just the right size for him (too big to have him choke on it and too small for him to think it was a real bottle) to play with for a few minutes. He was having a great time playing with it. He'd had it for about 2-3 minutes and during one of my glances I noticed that he'd somehow got it open!!!!!!! Don't ask me how! He had a pile of blue candy on his chest and had just put the top in his mouth, so he got a taste of candy! I couldn't believe it - I didn't think there was any possible way he could open that, but he found a way! I didn't give him any more candy toys!

I decided to have a little photo shoot outside with Robbie on one of the days.

He wasn't loving the sun in his eyes, but he did some cute faces.

He did like the grass, however!

I tried him in the hammock, but the sun was really in his eyes for that one!

And here I am dropping him off yesterday. It was a sad day for me! I already miss that little guy and will surely have to visit him sometime!

Canoe Trip

I was lucky enough to go on the canoe trip to Village Creek again - for the third time.

I think I've posted about it the other two times, so if you've read my blog for any length of time, you may remember this trip. It's usually a huge group of people, most of them from College Station. We usually do it Easter weekend - we leave early Friday morning, canoe all day, camp out along the river Friday night, and then canoe until about 1 or 2 pm on Saturday.

Well, we didn't go on Easter weekend because it was the General Conference of our church. We went this weekend, but didn't put in until about 6:00 pm on Friday, because I large part of the river was too low because we haven't had a lot of rain. We just canoed for an hour to camp and then set up.

Jen was my canoe partner this time. She's pictured here with a girl we met on the trip named Megan. She was very nice. There were WAY less people on this trip - only 5 canoes. Usually there are 20+ canoes.

While we were setting up, Daniel found this huge "velvet ant" I think is what it was called. It was already dead, and I'm really glad we didn't see any more of those things!

I liked how the guys were getting the firewood into more manageable sizes for the fire. Ben's showing his strength in this video.

Here's Katherine enjoying the water Friday evening.

Here are Megan, Wendy, Jen, and Ben just before we shoved off on Friday morning.

Even though it was hot and we saw a snake swimming in the river, the scenery was SO beautiful!

There's Wendy and Katherine up in the distance. There were a lot of downed trees and the river was REALLY low in some spots.

Sad day, I ripped my pants. I'm a little embarrassed to put this on here, but oh well!

It was quite a big hole! I snagged my pants on a screw that was on my seat. Luckily I had another pair of shorts that I changed into at one of our rest stops. The sad news is that that screw snagged my second pair of shorts too! This one was much smaller and I'll probably be able to mend them. GRRRRR.

This is our whole crew after finishing on Saturday - actually we're missing Daniel's dad, but other than that, this is all of us. What a fun trip!

Last day of school

Summer is officially here for me!

My last day of school with the kids was Wednesday, June 2nd. One of the end of the year gifts I gave the kids were these cute bucket hats. They had their classmates sign them. They turned out really cute! The day went really well and I think I was able to get everything done and sent home that needed to be!

After working in my classroom for awhile, I went to the temple as usual. I stopped by the grocery store before I came home so it was pretty late. By the time I was ready to get in bed, it was about 11:30. I put my pajamas behind my pillows and I reached back there to grab them. I heard and felt a THUNK. I looked back there and just saw TEETH!

When I pulled back the pillows, this is what I saw. There's only one person around here right now that would do that - NATE! I asked my roommates if he'd been at our house and Seana confirmed it! That stinker! It took me forever to calm down - my arms and legs were weak from being so scared. I couldn't even take it off my bed, Jen had to do it. Nate was pretty pleased with himself when I talked to him the next day.

Thursday I had to go into school for a work day. Part of our day was a staff meeting. At the end of the meeting, our principal and assistant principal pulled out this huge vase of roses. They proceeded to give roses out to people for special awards. One of them was to our school nurse for all her work this year. When our principal handed her the rose, Janet (the nurse) said, "Yes, I will accept this rose." and then kissed our principal on the cheek! For those of you who've seen the Bachelor, you will understand how hilarious this was. I couldn't stop laughing. Janet is hilarious!