June & July...and some August (brace yourself...)
Summer Break!
JUNE
Les Miserables--The day after school ended, my mom, dad, sister, and I all went to Capitol Theater in Salt Lake to see Les Miserables. It was phenomenal! After at least a decade and a half of listening to the music, reading the book, or playing the piano music, I saw it in person. And I may have even shed a few tears at the end. It was that good.
Singin' in the Rain--The following weekend I went to Singin' in the Rain at the Scera Outdoor Theater. Great experience, but a little bit of a letdown after my exposure to "real Broadway stars." Nevertheless, it was very cute and it even rained.
Blind Date with the Pediatric Cardiologist --
Believe it or not, one of the parents of my students last year actually DID set me up. Is that allowed? Either way, I went on a date with the older cousin of one of my students. It was fun--just a morning hike and French toast at Kneaders. No pressure--considering he'll be in medical school in Nebraska for the next, uh, twelve years. In other words, it was actually a blind date with a FUTURE pediatric cardiologist. Distant future....very distant future.
Collaboration
Yes, teachers have to work, even in the summer. I spent two lovely days with my 4th grade team figuring out exactly what we were going to be doing once school started again.
JUNE
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| Outside Capitol Theater after Olive Garden |
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| We finally did it!!! |
Les Miserables--The day after school ended, my mom, dad, sister, and I all went to Capitol Theater in Salt Lake to see Les Miserables. It was phenomenal! After at least a decade and a half of listening to the music, reading the book, or playing the piano music, I saw it in person. And I may have even shed a few tears at the end. It was that good.
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| Not as good as the original, but still fun |
Blind Date with the Pediatric Cardiologist --
Believe it or not, one of the parents of my students last year actually DID set me up. Is that allowed? Either way, I went on a date with the older cousin of one of my students. It was fun--just a morning hike and French toast at Kneaders. No pressure--considering he'll be in medical school in Nebraska for the next, uh, twelve years. In other words, it was actually a blind date with a FUTURE pediatric cardiologist. Distant future....very distant future.
Collaboration
Yes, teachers have to work, even in the summer. I spent two lovely days with my 4th grade team figuring out exactly what we were going to be doing once school started again.
Colorado Plateau
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| Stevie, Melissa, & Dave |
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| Look! We got a billboard. :) |
To be honest, the first day was horrendous. There we were on a trip with a bunch of science teachers and they'd let us out of the vans to "explore" and "observe" and then we were supposed to figure out that depositional environments during some given geological time period. I felt so dumb, I hated geology and I just wanted to be done. I didn't even have enough background knowledge to begin to understand, so I walked around taking pictures and hitting rocks with my hammer. hahahaha
As the trip went, however, it got better and better. As we would go through the explanations at night and solidify what we'd seen and make sense of it, it did start to make sense and before long, the elementary people were answering questions with the best of them. It was relieving to not feel dumb and actually start to really be "smart."
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| Floating down the river! |
Family Reunion(s)
At the end of June, I spend a few days reconnecting with the family I never knew I had! (My dad's extended family.) We went up to American Fork Canyon where we camped, hung out, and even had a family auction. Which works pretty well, unless you're a family of cheap skates like us. Glad to know that it's genetic. Oh, and we (Mom, Dad, and I) spent a little time at Aspen Grove, hanging with Kelli. I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow (and was better than Anne Hathaway on Princess Diaries II), did the high ropes course, and got that great food I missed so much from DT and the MTC...hahaha.
JULY
July started with some Brad Paisley, David Archuletta, and fireworks. No, we didn't go to Stadium of Fire, but we were close enough that we heard it all anyway. See--we're back to the cheap thing again...
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| Kelli & Melissa at the fireworks |
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| Mom and Dad at the fireworks |
July started with some Brad Paisley, David Archuletta, and fireworks. No, we didn't go to Stadium of Fire, but we were close enough that we heard it all anyway. See--we're back to the cheap thing again... |
| Tia Lou and Bubs! |
Nikki and Mikey came to Idaho
for almost a week, which was a ton of fun. We stopped at Aspen Grove on our way up long enough to see Kelli and find out that Brett & Nikki's Baby #2 is on the way (Hooray!) but then journeyed right on through to Idaho. Too bad my cigarette lighter wasn't working and Bubs' DVD cut out right about the time he should have been going to bed. My bad. Guess I deserved the next hour of crying. :)
While in Idaho, we played with the kitties (he named one of the cats "Koala Kitty," using the new word he'd learned and ran around traumatizing all of them--who were almost becoming tame--the rest of the week "Jack? JAAAACK!!!!!"). He read books with us, told us all his alphabet sounds, and even let us take him swimming. 
Harry Potter 7B
Summer would not be complete without a celebration for the final Harry Potter movie. We celebrated in style with pinata horcruxes, Harry Potter themed food, and a projector to show the first seventh Harry Potter movie (I know, that doesn't make sense, but you know what I'm saying...). And not only did we have the pre-party, we also went on opening night to the 12:15 showing (too bad I had another school conference those two days. I was just a little tired.....)
Harry Potter 7B
Summer would not be complete without a celebration for the final Harry Potter movie. We celebrated in style with pinata horcruxes, Harry Potter themed food, and a projector to show the first seventh Harry Potter movie (I know, that doesn't make sense, but you know what I'm saying...). And not only did we have the pre-party, we also went on opening night to the 12:15 showing (too bad I had another school conference those two days. I was just a little tired.....)
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| Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, & Rita Skeeter |
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| Karen Redford, Jenny Roberts (Dickson) & Melissa Waite |
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| Four of the seven horcrux pinatas. Before they broke... |
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| We had all Harry Potter food. These are the Cauldron Cakes. |
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| Tim Ruggles, "Mad Eye Moody," and Elise. |
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| They even had posters for each house! |
Canoeing
We were lucky enough this summer to have neighbors with their own canoe. If that weren't cool enough, their Dad actually built it. (Whereas I can barely row it.) Karen, James, Sean, and I took it out, had a picnic lunch, paddled around a little more, and went home.
Other things I did this summer (instead of blogging....)
1) Perfecting Pie. The blueberry, strawberry, and mixed berry pies turned out well. Let's not even talk about the rhubarb one... I can say, however, that while I may not be as expert as my mother, I can make a dang good pie.
2) Yard Sale-ing/KSL-ing
We were lucky enough this summer to have neighbors with their own canoe. If that weren't cool enough, their Dad actually built it. (Whereas I can barely row it.) Karen, James, Sean, and I took it out, had a picnic lunch, paddled around a little more, and went home.
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| James Reber, Melissa Waite, & Sean Reber--ready to embark! |
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| I promise! Karen WAS there-- She was just taking the picture right then... |
Other things I did this summer (instead of blogging....)
1) Perfecting Pie. The blueberry, strawberry, and mixed berry pies turned out well. Let's not even talk about the rhubarb one... I can say, however, that while I may not be as expert as my mother, I can make a dang good pie.
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| This is NOT the best pie of the summer, but it was good. |
Nope, I'm pretty sure those aren't words, but they should be, because thanks to KSL and Yard Sales, we were able to completely furnish our new apartment for less than $100. Sweet, right? Which brings me to another large chunk of my summer:
3) Apartment shopping/moving
There were a few miscommunications with the landlord which left us moving the first week of school, but the bottom line is we moved and we made it. And after checking all kinds of housing, we have something we like. I am still living with Karen and we're also now living with our friend Caitlyn, who is in grad school.
4) Reading
There were lots of good reads this summer. Here are some of the things I read:
-On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
-Boston Jane
-The Book Thief
-A Boy at War
-Esperanza Rising
-Lost and Found by Andrew Clements
-Flipped
-Mr. Popper's Penguins
-A Year Down Yonder
I know, I know. They are pretty much all kids books. What can I say? I teach school. If it makes you feel any better, I am reading a grown up book right now. It's just taking me a whole lot longer to finish...
5) Weddings
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| Here we are last Halloween |
6) Funeral
My cousin Tyler Pulsipher passed away after a courageous battle with brain cancer, so my parents and I went to Washington for the funeral. It was an incredible service and I felt more clearly than ever before the reality of life beyond this one and the peace that we can feel when we have faith in God's Plan.
7) Birthday
Yes, I did have ANOTHER birthday. And it was wonderful. I celebrated at home with Mom and Dad the week before (I spent the end of July/beginning of August at home). On the actual day of my birthday, Kelli and I went to The Sound of Music at the Sundance Outdoor Theater. Except for an entirely crazy family that was parked right in front of us, it was fantastic (although they provided almost as much entertainment as the play itself). As if it weren't great enough that it was The Sound of Music, we found out right in the middle of it, when one of the nice little nuns from the convent came out and started waving her arms, that it wasn't just a musical...it was a SING ALONG musical! Plus, we got to ride the tractor up to get there. If you haven't been to their summer theater, put it on your list!!!
8) Praxis
I feel like at least half my summer was teacher stuff (Can you believe I even worked my own parents like slaves in my classroom setting up my classroom library?!). In addition to the teacher classes, trainings, meetings, and working in my room, I also had to take part 2 of the teacher certification test. It is an extremely stressful timed test that is based on case studies with essay answers. Each case study has a four part answer that needs to be completed and by the time I finished the multiple choice questions, I had about 7.5 minutes per case study. Yikes. Imagine my horror when I realized I had written all of them but the first in the WRONG SPOT. Yep. Don't worry. I'm pretty sure they explained it all clearly, but somehow I only wrote on the fronts of the booklet pages, not the backs too. I wondered if they would fail a teacher simply for inability to follow directions. The good news is, they didn't, and I passed! :)
Hooray for the update! Looks like you had a super fun and busy summer. :) Hooray!
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