Random catch up...

So... I am leading/coaching our school's FLL team which stands for FIRST LEGO League. Check out FLL here. Basically, FLL is a sports tournament for nerds using small robots and legos. I haven't felt like I have done much of a great job with our team until today. My students have completed a few of their missions and our research team is well on their way! I was really proud of their work today and am hoping they know they can do a great job at the tournament in 2 Saturdays. So that's all for now... just had to vent that.
On another note... I am so excited to have a 2 day work week this week! I need to get caught up on so much stuff, including finishing my portfolio that I began 2 and a half years ago when I was hired at the school district. Time sure does fly and it's hard to catch up when I let myself get behind, I know I can finish what I need to finish this week if I did all of my masters degree in just 10 months!! ;)
So that's all for the time being. Nate and I are doing well, but pray for him as he is working extra this holiday season at Best Buy. We think it's gonna be a good second job and hopefully not too overwhelming that he wears himself out. Here's a pic of us at a FREE concert in Douglas a couple weeks ago.
I need to take more pics of us when we are doing fun stuff... we went ice skating the other day too... it was fun. That's all for now... and hopefully I get some good Thanksgiving pics and post some afterward.

Enjoying life...

well... that was my thought when I began uploading pics but our router or this computer or something with the network does not like my windows 7 machine or my ipad right now so i won't upload any cute photos or videos of my nephews and niece and Bernnie's little girl until this random problem is resolved. We'll see... and then you'll see some cute pics of mi familia... lets see if I can stay connected enough to upload this short message.

Summer break is over...

I can not believe that tomorrow is the last official day of my summer break... wow! It does not seem like it's been more than 10 weeks since I finished my masters degree. It does seem like it was a long time since Astrocamp in Laramie. Our Canada and grandparent trip was just over a month ago but so much has happened since then. It's been a fun summer though. Exhausting at times, but good. In just a few days, 10 to be exact, it is our 4th wedding anniversary. 4 years goes by so fast. This summer has been a good experience for us in the fact that we chose to work on our garage and house instead of leaving every second we could to go camping or on a short road trip. We've also spent a lot of time with family too and that's been so good. I need to post pics... this is just a short "getting ready to go to sleep before midnight for once in my life, sipping on just a little cup of ice coffee" blog moment I thought I would take in honor of my final day of summer break that I will have tomorrow. There will be more... goodnight!

Road Trip 2010

First stop... Antelope MT for their 100th anniversary. Mom, dad, Nate and three of my uncles enjoyed their little parade. Later that afternoon Nate and I visited my grandparents before heading north to...We stayed at a somewhat 'sketchy' motel for like $60 in Regina and then drove the next day to Edmonton and stayed there for 3 nights. Here's some of what we enjoyed in that part of Canada.
View from our downtown Westin motel (thank you priceline!). We would never stay here on our own since they charge an arm and a leg for everything!!! But it was a very nice hotel room with a nice view of downtown Edmonton. We also stayed at The Fantasyland Hotel that is attached to the huge mall... I don't have pics of that... Nate has them. Will upload some later...
A huge indoor roller coaster... along with a huge indoor water park that we spent a few hours in on Tuesday, for free due to having a room at the Fantasyland Hotel. The pic below shows about half of the water park... the slides were awesome and scary. I think one of them knocked the wind out of me and I decided that much adrenaline is not good for anyone's health... ;)

Anyway... I am blogging from a KOA in the prettiest part of Montana. WiFi at a campsite... gotta love today's technology.
Here's Nate sitting by the fire with his laptop... mine is on the table too. We are nerds. Luv it!!
We drove through Jasper and Banff National Parks on the way back to the states and I can say they were beautiful and I am beginning to grasp just how big the rocky mountains are after seeing a large chunk of the Canadian, MT, WY, and CO Rockies...
These are in Jasper nat'l park... This is a taste of what some of the mountains looked like as we ventured through them. I got to touch a glacier for the first time also... very clear ice. That was my only thought.

I better get busy tending to the fire and getting ready for bed. It's 11:30pm and finally almost dark. Gotta love summer time in the north!!

June...

Some pictures of my June...
Hanging with my mom and Cody and Alissa at The Science Zone

My graduation present... opened and in use within seconds of its purchase.

Wyoming flooded a lot this June.... this is the Laramie river in Laramie near their bike path.


Visiting Walter while in Laramie


The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp at UW... all 48 kids, 8 counselors, 4 teachers, 2 directors, an ExxonMobil rep, and Bernard Harris himself... it was the best camp yet!! (Although all of the Astrocamps I have been involved with have been very awesome...)

I will try to post more. It's been a fun, exhausting summer so far. I can tell I am getting older and like my house more than I thought I did. But anyway... life's an adventure and I am enjoying it. Nate and I are in Canada at the moment and I should have some more fun pics to share soon... I really like not having homework. It's awesome!!!

One last pic...
Patherfinder Reservoir is full and this is the natural spillway... we played around in the 'rain' the falls create. It's very cool! A once in every 25ish years thing...

oooo... new designs...

I like when Blogger lets me change the design of our blog and it's fast and looks cool. Anyway... I've been in Laramie for about a week... here are some pics of the week.


Laramie River Flood... I guess this river usually looks more like a big creek. Not this week...

Baby Walter... I get to go hand out with him today too. :)
We had a day of staff teamwork for the camp we are putting on starting tomorrow. Ropes course stuff. I couldn't climb because I hurt my wrist a few weeks ago and it was really bothering me the day we went, but it was still fun taking pictures and watching people do stuff. I would have tried the tight rope and walking across the big log, but I didn't want to do the leap of faith. I would have been too nervous... oh well.
I am exhausted at the moment and so glad it is Saturday! We had a very long week of work and tomorrow it starts all over again. But it will be fun... our 48 campers arrive tomorrow and don't leave for 10 days... say a prayer for us and pray that we all have a great time and stay safe.
Now I must go hangout with Walter and Erika...

Summer Begins!

So the first week of summer has come a gone and I am hoping my allergies have left with it. On Saturday we went to Rawlins to celebrate Christine's graduation from nursing school. We had a blast playing volleyball, ultimate frisbee and eating some good food.
On Sunday we went to the mountain to visit the land Nate's parents bought recently. There were a couple of piles of random bricks on the property and someone had kind of started using them to build a fire pit. This is what it looked like before...
And this is what it looked like a few hours later...
Between frisbee and volleyball on saturday and carrying a bunch of bricks by hand for like 4 hours yesterday, my arms hurt today!! But it was worth it... kind of a neat, impromptu fire pit. Next thing is to clean up the inside of the cabin so we can have fun enjoying the property without working to hard sometime this summer. So that's the beginning of the summer... have lots more to do and look forward to and am hoping that time doesn't rush by too fast so that we can actually shorten our to do list and relax a little too... more to come later.

Life Update

I am done with my masters degree. Crazy! It was a lot of work. I am not ever going to say that it was easy, because it wasn't. I worked a full time job and went to school full time. That's never easy for anyone and I give kudos to anyone who does this and especially people who do this while raising kids!! Go you! (This would be many people I had classes with since last summer).
I am so glad for this guy...


He took on a lot of the normal house work that we would have shared while I did my work, he cooked for me, he knew exactly when I needed to take a break and when I just needed to push through the assignments, and he took me to Hawaii for spring break... cool! I love you Nate! Thanks for all you did/do for me! You're awesome!
I just decided I need to go through a bunch of pics from the last year and do a big post on everything... and now I have the time to do something like that. Woo hoo!
The last day of school was Friday. I got my room all cleaned up, packed up, and it's in our basement now cause my school for next year is remodeling some rooms and they don't know where the tutors will be. So two of us are just kind of waiting around for things to happen. It will work out and I am not too anxious to go set up a room yet... need a break for a bit. ;)
I can't be too lazy though. I have the BHSSC to look forward to and need to type up a couple of lessons today and get them to the directors. This camp used to be called Wyoming Astro Camp but we have ExxonMobil sponsoring the camp this year so it got bigger and we have to publish our lessons which was a goal we all have thought about... it's my 6th year involved in the camp and the 5th year I am a teacher... I think... Anyway... before the curriculum was all typed up and we just had a few lessons done, it was already over 100 pages long... crazy! I'll be in Laramie June 14-29. I always like helping with this camp. I just don't like being away from Nate and this year I am tired and just want to stay home. I think the next week and a half will be refreshing enough for me to be ready to go help with Astro Camp... I mean BHSSC... and it's always a fast 2 weeks...
I think that's all for now... I will try to do a picture post of some fun family, kids, life, etc. that has been going on lately in the next few days.

Grandma Vera

A little over 3 months ago Nate's grandpa passed away and today brought with it news that grandma also passed away. She was really sick with pneumonia and really missed grandpa. They were married for 69 years! He was almost 94 and she was 86. This is the picture that was outside their room at the assisted living home in Cut Bank. I wish I knew them like Nate knew them. He has so many memories of them and they sound like they were awesome grandparents! We trust they are with the Lord...
This year continues to present some tough times and at times I look back at all the things that have gone on even in the past month and I wonder how it is I am still functioning... but I know there is a purpose for everything and perseverance builds character... I am going to stop rambling now and just say that I miss Virgil and Vera even though I didn't know them that much. They are such a huge part of Nate and I am sad that he doesn't have his grandparents any more.

I wish I was laying on one of those empty beach chairs right now... I miss Maui today.
And I am only posting because I have zero motivation to do the thing I should be motivated to do, which is my homework. I have less than 50 days, less than 20 assignments to do and am on the home stretch and I can't get myself to work. Please pray for me or the next 7 ish weeks are going to be horrible!!
Anyway... I haven't put anymore pics up because I believe, but don't take my word for it, that Nate is making something cool with the pics and when he is done we will post that... but I am not sure... If I have time this June to post some more, then I will...
Also pray for my job situation. I have a job next year, but it's not the position I have now and I am attempting to 'transfer' into an elementary classroom... we'll see what happens the next few weeks... I just pray it's the position God wants for me and that I can be used wisely in the position... whatever it may be. Alrighty... must sign off and get some work done... I am going to tackle my dumb homework... ;)

Pics will come...

So... we went to Hawaii for over a week, didn't watch TV, hardly used the Internet and had a blast! It was wonderful. Here are just a couple pics. There are over 6,000 more and we are going through them, Nate's gonna touch them up, and possible make a really cool video with the stills so we can have more than just a folder with our pics in it. Those 6,000 files include video also... we have a great time and miss the temperature and weather. So beautiful!
Plumeria is now my favorite flower! This bloom is the best smelling anything I have ever smelled in my life!! It was awesome! It was from a tree in Hana on Maui. None of the other plumeria I found on the island smelled nearly as good as the ones that come from that tree... I don't think I took a pic of the tree, just a few blossoms that had fallen.
Our little red convertible. It was a good car. A Sebring, just like Michael Scott from The Office.

One of our biggest adventures was to the Hana airport to meet Armin for Power Hang Gliding 'lessons'. This was a blast!!!
We hope to post more soon...
While we were in Maui, my sister had her first baby! His name is Walter Quinn and I am excited to meet him soon!!

It never ends...

The homework never ends, but I sure can't seem to do it... again! I am a week ahead right now, but if I don't get going on this stuff... i won't stay ahead and be prepared for our planned vacation to this place.
Soooo excited!
Anyway... just had to post something since I hadn't for a while. Back to my discussion board about my thoughts on the role of computers in elementary education. :) So much fun. no... not really...

A quick side note... I like the Olympics. I thought it was funny that 2 of the American snowboard cross competitors are named Seth and Nate... my Nate and his best friend Seth love snowboarding... just a fun coincidence.

Can't Concentrate...

What I wish I was doing!!

This masters degree thing is driving me crazy! It's all I do anymore. I want to vacuum. I want to blog... (shouldn't be blogging right now). I want to watch stuff on Hulu or whatever is on CMT because they have fun shows as I recall from Christmas break. I want to go for a walk with Nate and Shadow. I want to go buy groceries and not feel rushed. I want to go to church instead of sitting at home finding scholarly articles on Instructional Technology and e-learning authoring systems. I want to do anything but read all this stuff and write a profound paper on my thoughts about the subject. BUT... I can't. I have to get this done. I am working ahead so I can enjoy myself on our vacation over spring break. As of today, I only have 15 more weeks to deal with this. I have picked up some great information for teaching and have absorbed a lot of general information about education, but I am tired and really looking forward to May 30th!! I just needed to vent a bit... maybe now I can focus better becuase I have been getting nowhere with this stuff today.
Mom took Nate and I to lunch though, so that was nice! Thanks mom!!
On to the research and paper writing...

Grandpa Virgil

Friday brought some sad news. Nate's grandpa passed away a little after 7am. We are going to the funeral this week. I only met Virgil 2 times, but Nate spent many summers with his grandparents in Cutbank, they would visit Casper at least twice a year, and Nate went on a few road trips with them when he was young. He has so many memories of them and the things they did together. Here's a picture of Nate and grandpa last summer when we visited them. He was 93 years old; only 2 months away from 94!! The sad thing is we have been weighed down by other things going on (work mostly), it's like we haven't really let the news sink in. It will be good to spend the week with family and hope that things will settle down.

Unfortunately, my grad degree work doesn't go away. I got done with last week's stuff early, and need to work hard today to get half of this week's work done before we go. So I better make this blog short. I also hope I get ahead on that work so I can go to my sister's baby shower on Saturday and get in the habit of being ahead so I can enjoy our spring break trip to Hawaii... how sad would it be if I had to finish a paper or two while I was there!? Horrible thought... :)

So far this year we have been going to Sunday morning services regularily and have really enjoyed them. God's word has been comforting and encouraging to me even though I feel like all I do is work and homework. It will end soon. There is a season for everything...

I need to let Nate take more pics of me and him and us with our friends. We had a few people over a couple weeks ago and then went to Amanda's for book club last Sunday and it was fun... I'll try to remember pics next time...

Long night...

First off... returning to work this week was rough. I really enjoyed vacation and now I am feeling overwhelmed by work and homework. It's a lot each week. I survived the first half of my degree and am praying that I can do so for the last half also. I am praying my headaches don't return, that I can find the time to read everything, understand my assignments well and formulate my thoughts well enough to remember what it is I am doing as a Masters degree student. As my current professors says, "You are masters of your education. Prove it!". And I must do all of this while working with all my kids at school... planning and preparing for them so that they too can be successful at what they are attempting. It's overwhelming, but I'll get there... :)

So last night after I began one of my assignments and had a pretty good grasp on things, we decided to watch a movie before going to sleep. It was after 1 by the time the movie was over. I let the dog out one last time, shut off lights, and was crawling into bed when I hear a knock or tap 3 times on one of our windows... it freaked me out. Shadow barked his vicious bark and it stopped. Nate was already buried in pillows and said he thought it was just the dog making noises, but I know it was a knock on a window near us and obviously Shadow knew it was something more than himself making noises. Then... not 2 minutes later we hear a bbgun or a paintball gun sound about 4 times hitting our fence or our neighbors fence and then all the dogs outside begin barking... and many of them rarely bark! We get up, hear more 'gun' shots and decide it could actually be a gun from pretty far away and not just some kids paintballing random stuff in our neighborhood, which has never happened to us. We've never had anything like this happen in our neighborhood. I decide to call the police just to get someone to patrol. We hear more shots, all of our neighbors are now awake and turning their lights on too. The cops wandered around our houses for like 20 minutes and we didn't hear or see anything more and then we finally go to bed at around 2:30... it was weird. This morning... no evidence of anything. No footprints in the snow near our windows, no paintball splatters or bullet holes (thank goodness!) and it doesn't seem like our neighbors had anything happen either. It made for a disturbing night and if it was just some stupid people messing around then oh well, but it would have been fun to watch the cops chase them or something... :) I always try to find the positive side to everything. And as Nate says, don't worry. You know how to use a gun too if it ever came down to it. I pray nothing ever happens where I would have to use a gun to defend myself!

So that was our long night... maybe I overreacted by calling the cops (which Nate thinks I did) but i don't care. If someone is going to harrass me and my neighbors like that, I want them to know I don't mess around and I use my tax money by calling the authorities. That's what they are there for.

Alright... enough recall of events. Must get back to my paper of the ADDIE model of instructional design. I know... so much more interesting huh? I love homework...

Here we go again...

So... vacation is done. My weeks of staying up late watching TV or movies and waking up without an alarm clock are over... oh well. I got a lot of our house more organized though so that was good. The more time we live here the more it feels like our home and not just a house we're paying for each month. That's a nice feeling! We really enjoyed our time off. Nate did have to work a few days here and there, but he had a bunch of time off too and it was nice. We will miss taking the dog to the park a lot to watch him climb trees. He does this all by himself! He's crazy fun!

We went to a wedding on New Years night and had a lot of fun catching up with people. New Years Eve involved staying home to watch a Net Flix and then sleeping in. We also had my dad's b-day dinner and then another friends b-day party on Saturday night and Sunday we went to church, ran errands and came home to prepare for the next few weeks.

It's back to work and school now. I have 10 weeks of class ahead of me and Maui is 9 weeks away. This means I need to be ahead of schedule so I don't have to do anything but enjoy Hawaii during spring break. We may go to Keystone in a couple of weekends with some friends, but we'll see. My sister's baby shower is this month too! So busy busy... but blessed and enjoying life. We'll see if we can stay on schedule with our p90X workout, which is really cool but hard and makes us feel really out of shape... but it's good for us! Happy New Year!