vacation

to say i've been slightly stressed would be an underestimate

[that sounds funny to me. alas, i am too lazy to think of or search for a different word. deal.]

my life the past week.

wednesday, 7.15pm.

katie, brad, gabe and i jetted off to katie's river house.

3am ca/az time: arrive [4am provo time]

4.30am [5.30am provo] bed time.

we were reallllly tired.

thursday we played and helped katie's dad out with a few projects.

jeeeet ski mania. so fun.

i may or may not have been throwing people off. whoops.

we hit up the buffet at the casino. ha.

then we saw katie's dad's pig and chickens.

then we hit up walmart, holla.

then my family came later that night!

then we were sooo tired and crashed.

friday we played and pulled out the boat.

and wakeboarded.

yay!

and it was fun times with the fam.

and then, of course, watched some movies.

same thing for saturday.

but we also went tubing.

katie erin and i right before getting whipped around and thrown off.

erin em and i

wedgie.

the provo kids.

gabe, brad, katie, me

sorry this is not turned. lazy.

but i've been working hard since i got home.

and i've been at new teacher induction for my school district this week.

tuesday - friday, 8.30am - 3.30pm

yesterday i went to temple square for a little bit before my stats class.

which i ended up being 30 minutes later to. whoops.

but it was totally worth it.

i love the temple.

speaking of, katie and i are going to provo temple in about 33 minutes.

things have been crazy and stressful and overwhelming.

but things are looking good.

i am happy.

i am excited for the future. 2nd grade in less than a month!!

and i'm going home in a couple of weeks!

the Lord has been blessing me with many little miracles and tender mercies.

the sunday morning post, 34th ed.

good morning. today is the Sabbath. Sunday is my favorite day of the week.

we'll start off this Sunday Morning Post, 34th ed.

[can you believe it's been nearly a year? and i have missed a few too...]

with a quote from our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson

"I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us. My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

-from this talk

And now for my week in pictures [and words. please, like i would just put it in pictures! i have too much to say.]

{one}

it's been really really hot here.

skirts every day.

but that's not really anything new for me in the summertime.

{two}

i've been stressed beyond belief this week.

{three}

the Provo Temple has been closed for almost a month.

no fear, it will reopen on July 26th.

i'm counting down: 8 days.

this means that i have to go to other temples in the valley.

so wednesday i went to Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

beautiful.

so thankful for temples.

[watch this: why mormons build temples]

[from my phone, a little crooked. whoops.]

{four}

thursday and friday i attended

BYU's Symposium on Books for Young Readers

aka: Children's literature conference.

LOVE.

David Shannon, Patricia MacLachlan (author of Sarah, Plain and Tall--a Newberry winner),

Elizabeth Partridge, and Kadir Nelson [i fell in love with his illustrations. oh, and him.] were all speakers there.

i left with tons of ideas to do with my second graders!

and also, i want about 235 books now.

donations accepted. i'll send you a list.

i used my credit card rewards to get an amazon.com gift card and once that arrives in the mail i will be ordering many many books for cheap!

but you can still send donations.

fun fact: david shannon wrote a book called "No, David!" when he was like 5 years old. his mom found it and showed it to him. so he wrote one, for reals. published. and now there's a whole "No, David!" series. super cute.

{five}

INCEPTION

go see it!

it will blow your mind.

it is so trippy and just so mind blowing!

leo, you were amazing.

[remember when you were in titanic?]

{six}

katie loves me.

she also loves doing projects.

she is so crafty!!

she made this for my classroom door!!!

is that not the cutest thing ever?

i want to keep it and put it on our door here.

{seven}

speaking of my classroom, it's coming together.

little by little.

and i mean little.

the room is a mess.

there's cut outs and letters and posters and things everywhere.

it caused me much stress this past week.

still is, but the weekend has allowed me to calm a bit.

also, a few of my friends have helped me.

especially katie.

she works til 6. then friday and saturday we went to my classroom at 7pm after she had been at work allll day.

i gave her a project.

well, i told her i needed her help with my reading corner.

those pictures are the inspiration. but i want mine better. fabric. tulle. bunched up. wave-like. little creatures. shells. it's going to be amazing.

katie wanted to take it upon herself. she kept saying, "can this please be my project? can i do it?"

"Um, yes please. it's me doing it as fast and neat as i can, or you taking your time and using your amazing skills and making it fabulous."

pictures to come--it will be done tuesday! before we go to the....

{eight}

River!

i am so so so so so so so excited.

a few of us will be road tripping down to katie's river house at the colorado river on the az - ca border wednesday night/thursday morning.

i am so excited!

my family is meeting us there!!

i am so excited!

wakeboarding. jet skis. boooooooat. movies. removal of the shoe and tank tans. family. fun. friends. fun. sisters!!!! fun. fun. fun.

i am so excited!

unfortunately i have work to bring--posters to make for my classroom. but mom is going to help me. and katie's sweet mother is bringing her cricut machine to help, too {um, those things are amazing. want.}. more help will be good! i want my mom here so badly to help. i shed a few tears over that this week. it's okay, life is good now.

i am just so excited.

3 days!

[hey, did i mention i am so excited?]

pictures from last year's river trip.

and now i am going to shower. because i didn't last night after our little 4-man, super fun, ghost story, fire dancing, marshamallow roasting bon fire up the canyon. [before you get too disgusted, just know that i did wash my filthy feet afterward and my face. just my hair smells so smokey!] it was my first bonfire not at the beach or a campsite. love.

current state of life {in pictures}

1. i need help. {thank you katie. and whoever else who would love to help me set up my classroom.}

2. i'm thinking of getting that stress reduction kit. wait, i don't even need one. i have plenty of hard surfaces here, and i don't need a circle to tell me where to bang my head.

3. don't worry, i've only made that face once a day. oh the tears.

4. we can do it. i can do it. i will do it.

[5. river in a few days. family. friends. {and statistics still....boooooo.}]

marathon mania (2)

it's official.

well, almost.

i need to register still.

but i'm back in training.

marathon #2: september 25.

[which means the enlarged leg muscles will remain. as well as the horrible tan lines, shoe tan in particular. and the nasty toes. oh well!]

i was having serious withdrawals.

analogous to the baby postpartum blues.

i hope i never get those.

and my marathon withdrawals probably weren't that bad.

millions of thanks to my sponsor. m.santiago.

also. utah bucket list has been updated: bridal veil falls-check, [i added] the subway at zion's-check, and hot springs-check.

hogel zoo in slc--added. real salt lake game--added and checked.

looking for more things to add and more things to check. make it happ'n.

the sunday morning post, 33rd ed.

they're here! pictures from our camping / hiking experience!

here's the story.

katie, rudy, and i left as soon as katie got home from work, around 7pm wednesday.

we hit the road.

i made a totally random, fun playlist for us

with lots of "sing-a-long" songs.

so katie and i sang a lot for rudy.

i was driving.

get off at exit 27.

ummm, it's closed--construction.

"katie, call ian!" i shouted, half panicked.

"he didn't pick up. i'll call..."

"call brad!"

brad says, "exit 27's closed? okay, get off on the previous one."

"uh, brad. we already passed it."

and we laughed.

and we laughed some more after she got off the phone.

so we got off, we got back on and back tracked.

closed on both sides.

pulled over and talked to the construction workers.

got off, got back on.

got on a road.

got on the right road.

we got there around 11.30pm.

set up our little tent.

washed up.

katie and i had some tent time:

chatted for a few minutes,

read scriptures,

and hit the sack.

it was super windy.

and i was excited.

and uncomfortable.

really uncomfortable.

and i laid there.

and i laid there.

and i checked the clock: 2.33am.

and i laid there.

and i checked the clock again: 4.40am.

really?

finally sometime after 4.40am i fell asleep.

then at 7.03am my alarm went off.

greaaaat, 2 hours of sleep before a 6-7 hour hike!!

so we woke up.

got ready.

ate some granola bars.

cleaned up the camp site.

and hit the road for the subway.

and then it began.

the first part was just a nice little nature walk.

then we were walking down giant slabs of granite {as pictured above}.

and then we were making a steep decline and

plop!

there we were at the subway part in the canyon.

SO neat! pictures just don't do it any justice. it was absolutely gorgeous!

we climbed,

we bouldered {climbed up and over huge rocks, aka boulders}.

we waded through water.

we climbed down logs leaning against waterfalls.

we repelled.

we had to jump in and swim.

sometimes dive down and swim under a little tunnel.

{actually, that was optional, but it was fun. and i almost lost a contact.}

{i'm sad my eyes are closed here because i love this picture!}

we stood under waterfalls.

then both cameras died. and so we couldn't take anymore pictures.

but.

the remainder of the hike

[after the waterfalls, swimming, repelling, bouldering]

went as follows:

walk through rocky river, it was shallow.

no more than 3 feet deep in some parts.

then the last 30 minutes went straight up!

it was a climb!

and i loved it.

the whole thing was SO fun.

can't wait for our next camping/hiking adventure!

which is another reason why i need to have a super productive week!

Happy Sabbath! My favorite day of the week.

i'm teaching today, too. about this. or here. so grateful for the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Alma 7:11-13

"11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me."