Baby Nathellia!

So... I anticipate blogging a lot this summer and want to put a bunch of pictures on here of our journey with Nathellia so far, but I am very tired at the moment and need to go feed her and get her ready to sleep. I hope she sleeps well tonight cause I am very exhausted today even though I didn't do much. Anyway... here's one picture of our baby girl... many more to come (hopefully).

















Tummy time on our bed...

I guess it's time for another update. Honestly, I like to blog, but I never take the time to do it. I decide to clean the kitchen or read everyone's FB statuses or read other blogs and then I am usually off to do something else. Anyway, I feel like blogging right now. I don't have any pics to upload cause I am using my new computer that I have yet to connect to our Drobo, which is basically a little server that I could acess with all my pics on it... need to do that someday. Long story short, my pics are on those hard drives and not this one. Thinking of technology... sometimes it all just annoys me and other times I really enjoy all the computers, internet, hand held gadnets, etc. that we have. It's a love hate thing for sure.
So it's 2011! And January is half over. Wow! Last year at this time I was about half way done with my masters program and counting down the days to Hawaii. Now Nate and I are counting down the days to another exciting event and attempting to prepare for that. I am amazed at how quickly life moves sometimes and yet it all works out just the way it's supposed to. I love that I can look back on things knowing I have been blessed so much and trust that the future holds many more blessings. There are those moments that we feel a bit overwhelmed due to work and 'to do' lists. Nate's preparing for the 2 classes he is going to begin teaching this week. Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop. He's doing this on top of his IT job and working at Best Buy a few hours a week... he's awesome and I hope I can be encouraging to him as I know it's a lot to do.
I have been looking into the opportunity to teach English through some online courses and may go to a training for that soon, but it is taking a while to get things rolling. Someday I want to try online teaching and teaching English online a few hours a week now may help me decide if I would really like that kind of teaching. So we'll see where that goes and if it develops into anything interesting.
Beyond these somewhat random thoughts... I have this idea in my head to make it a habit to have people over to our house for dinner or desserts or games or whatever at least once a month, but it hasn't happened like I have wanted and it sure hasn't been once a month. So maybe one of my 2011 goals will be to invite people over more and make it a point to fellowship with our friends more often. Another goal I have is to stay on top of work and not get behind. I have had 1 week back with students, and so far, I'm doing good, but can just see myself getting lazy and letting those papers and data charts pile up and wait for the end of the quarter before I do much with them. Speaking of work, I went to Staples today to buy some stuff my students use and I was getting low on or have run out of... $70 later I have stuff for them to use now until the end of the year. $70!? Office supplies should not cost $70. I was just glad I had an LPO to use to buy it all... markers and paper should not cost that much money. At least I have stuff for them now and don't have to keep borrowing from others.

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...