Tomorrow is the Day I Quit!

It seems completely unreal to me...
I have waited along time for this! Tomorrow is the day I quit...
Quit being a college student, that is.
It has been such a distant moment for so long that I am still a bit uncertain that it is real. I am very excited that my wife (with new baby in tow) was able to come along as well. Not only that, but my parents and my parent-in-laws are coming along as well!
So, after all is said and done, I am done. I can't explain how excited I am to have a summer with no college classes to deal with. I have big plans for all my new found time. Well, it is getting late and I am enjoying holding my new little girl. Therefore, I will sign off until tomorrow. I hope to be able to blog tomorrow about the great event and even add some pictures.
Until then...

Later...

And We Are Off...

Tonight marks a wonderful time.

The beginning of the end. I started my last semester of classes tonight, and thankfully, they are going to be very manageable. What a relief. I am not really all the excited to return to classes, but I am grateful to be moving ever closer towards the finish line. Wahoo!

Today at school was wonderful as well. While my class was far from perfect, they were much more perfect than they have since Christmas break and I truly enjoyed my day. It is like a new friend I have found blogging- this friend keeps reminding me that life isn't as bad as I keep thinking it is- and that tomorrow is a new day. What a blessing to have a ever growing network of colleagues that can help, support, and buoy each other up. Thanks to all of you for that!

On that note, a dear friend of mine announced today that she will be retiring after this school year. I am very sad for me, but excited for her. She has been a help and support for a majority of my 6 years here in the district. I will miss her humor, her ideas, and most of all her laughter at the many meetings we have sat through together!

However, life is great, and I am thankful to have new friends that I can turn to for help and support!

Later...

Finally...The END!

Tonight is a night for celebration! I have successfully finished my 5th semester of my Masters Degree. I can't say if I received passing grades yet (those won't be out until January), but I can say that I completed all the assignments and attended every class. Wahoo! I was able to finish my final quiz in my law class tonight as well. So I can now relax and not worry about classes for a few weeks. Which is fine, I guess, as I have my Praxis test to worry about. But, even with that I am starting to feel more secure (a little anyways).

Today, my wife came and helped my students make their tree ornament for the school tree. We had come up with the idea of using baby food jars to make snow globes. My wife came up with such fun ideas. The kids had 4 different jars to choose from. They are dry inside with fake snow and a little tree with either a penguin, santa, gift, or little toy drum. I think the kids really liked them (they all asked when they get to take them home if that means anything).

Well, it is getting late and I have faculty meeting in the morning. I just wanted to share my joy at having completed another semester. Phew. One more and a big test to go. I can do this, I can do this...

Later...

Three Cheers For Being Finished!

Today is a fantastic day! And not just because it is a day I can spend time and relax from everything else going on in my life. Today is fantastic because (barring any changed required by my professors) I have completed EVERY assignment that I have for this semester. I still have two quizzes to take and one presentation to give, but all the work for those is done. :) What a great day. Only two more classes and a praxis test before I can get out of this time eater.

I just finished spending the last two days writing a paper for one of my classes,with a dash of powerpoint for another class. I guess I still need to read a bunch of chapters, but all the major assignments are over and done with!

Last night I went with my parents to Moab to the Saturday session of conference. It was nice to visit with my mom and dad. On the way home my dad "lectured" me about why I am in this masters program. He was very complementary and told me lots of things I am not sure I believe about myself, but I appreciated very much his counsel and support.

The weather has been a bit crazy! On Tuesday as I was climbing into my trooper I noticed the roof was all messed up (as mentioned in my last post). Wednesday after school I was supposed to attend a meeting at the church, but ended up working on my roof to get it all fixed and glued back down! Phew! I took my son up on the roof with me as well to show him what we needed to do. I guess I want to show him what little I know so that he gets at least a little handyman knowledge under his belt. Hope it works! :)

The wind has been crazy today. We had a bit of rain this morning and then the sun came out and it was beautiful! Then about 10 minutes ago the wind started blowing and HOLY MOELY it is really blowing! Unfortunately it is blowing all the leaves from down the street in to my clean yard---GRRRRR! My wife and I had to run out and baton down the hatches. As long as it is just wind and not rain or snow. My sister called and said that it had been snowing for over an hour at her house. Yuck!

One last memory to jot down. This morning we had most of the boys in our bed. We got talking and laughing and so I called my two oldest in. We all snuggled on the bed and talked about what everyone wanted for Christmas. We laughed and laughed at some of the items. My 3 year old only wants chocolate. Well that and Thomas the Train and gummies. I guess Santa just needs to make him Willy Wonka! My 5 year-old only wants "$180". We laughed about that too! He also wants a arsenal of weapons (guns that shoot orange sticky darts, a ninja star, and handcuffs like his brother). My daughter wants a camera and/or a Nintendo DS. She also would like a Littlest Pet Shop babysitter (something new) as well as some new pet shop animals. My oldest wants BIG BOY TOYS! He wants a Flip-Camera (not going to happen!). He is really into art lately and wants a good art set, a nice football, and Nerf gun. Now listen up GRANDPARENTS! Check with us BEFORE buying any of that stuff! :) Anyone else that wants to donate to the cause leave a note- lol (totally kidding about that!).

Well, it is time to get back to reading for my classes.

Later...

Week One Came and Went...

I can not believe that the first week of school came and went. What a great week it was too! I truly feel like I have been teaching this class for months. They are behaved and generally obedient. I think this is going to be an outstanding year! The only down side right now is that my air conditioner in my classroom in on the fritz right now and it gets really warm in my classroom during the day. They have the parts ordered- I hope they come soon!

Today has been nice. I woke up this morning and mowed the lawn, watered the garden, harvested some tomatoes and squash, walked (with the family) to get the mail, and spend some time with my little herd.

This coming week brings us Back to School Night and my masters classes again. Those are going to be a bit tough what with all the reading, but I am really looking forward to learning about these two topics. I have had a hard time reading lately. Every time I sit down to read, my eyes close. I wake up 5 minutes later and have to get up and move around to wake up. I have only read one of 4 chapters that have to be done by Tuesday. In fact, I finally gave up today and took a nap with my 1 year-old. We got in a great 2 1/2 hour nap. I feel a little guilty as my wife has been working in the kitchen ALL day canning peaches, nectarine juice, preparing and freezing zucchini, making brownies, chex-mix, and other tasty goodies. We are going to be ready for winter for sure this year. I think we have about 60+ bags of frozen squash- lol.

Well, I still need to go to my classroom sometime this weekend and figure out what I am going to for sure do on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I like to plan out a majority of the week in advance because of all the other little things that come along. In fact I just remembered I need to come up with an agenda for faculty meeting for Wednesday. I am in charge this coming week (I think anyways). I also have student council elections coming up soon (I am the advisor) and that will be exciting. It is the same week as Pirate Week (one of my favorite events I do in my classroom). That is also Melon Days weekend AND the weekend before a major presentation in one of my classes. So, basically, if I survive September it will be wonderful!

Well, I guess I should go and see if I can keep my eyes open and read now (with my nap I hope so).

Later...

What a Day...

Phew.

It has been one busy day. I overslept this morning due the the intense heat through the night again. Barely got below 77 degrees- YUCK! I did finally get up and get going as I had to supervise summer school today. Only two more sessions and then we are done with that! It has been quite successful, though not as much as I had hoped. These last few sessions has only brought in the dedicated 5-6 kids. But, that is okay, I am proud of those who are coming.

After summer school, I worked in my classroom for about two hours. I finally have everything mostly where I want it. I have really cleaned up and de-cluttered my classroom. It looks much, much better. I am very pleased with it. I left the school about 1:20 so I could go and watch the kids while my wife headed over to Heather's so they could work on the Bountiful Baskets information. It looks like our site will start August 21st (I think) IF, and that is IF, our site is accepted into the CO-OP. Exciting stuff! My wife is heading to Moab on Saturday to do her last training (and to pick up our basket we ordered- Yum!). It is exciting to see the amount of interest there is here in Green River over it. I hope it continues.

While my wife was gone, I cracked the whip (okay, not really, my kids are generally pretty good to help their OCD father!) and we cleaned up the house. My wife decided last night that she wanted to start painting the living room, so we moved everything (TV entertainment center NOT SO MUCH FUN TO MOVE!) and she started. She is already done this evening. In less than 24-hours our living room is now tan! It looks warm and inviting (okay. maybe warm was the wrong word to use in 110 degree weather). We just finished getting everything back in place (curtains, blinds, couches, tables, etc.). She will blog about it soon and show-off her work. I would never want to infringe upon her unveiling (however I have no shame in stealing it from her later and reposting here!). Anyways, while she was gone I cleaned the kitchen while my 7 year-old daughter cleaned both bathrooms and helped the boys clean their room (2 for 3 isn't bad for 7- the boy's room is a total disaster- but then again, the boys were building a fort with their bunk-beds!) When my wife came home, we had lunch and headed up to my parent's house. They have been in Sun Valley, ID for a Emery Telcom Conference. My father is on the board of directors. Anyways, we have been watching their yard and try to keep their garden alive. I noticed their lawn was a little shaggy the other day so my wife and I took the kids and headed up so I could mow the lawn. The kids enjoyed playing on grandma's many toys (swing set, tramp, etc.) while I mowed. It was quite funny. We were watering some new grass my parents had planted and we weren't really paying attention to the baby. Well, he walked right over to the sprinkler and stood in front of it. He thought it was great. I laughed and hauled him to his mother. He ran around in the diaper for about an hour while his pants dried. Silly little boy! After I got the lawn done, I dropped my wife and kiddos (except my daughter) back at the house and I returned to the school.

Back at the school I finished cleaning up some walls by removing old posters and other items that were dust collectors. I printed all the labels for notebooks, etc and also the front covers of the student's communication folders. Then I just didn't want to be there anymore. I have plenty still to do. I did get the tables set up with chairs. It will be SO nice not having 6/7 tables in the classroom this year (at least I HOPE I don't get that many students again). 5 tables and 17 student's so far. I have earned that. The last two years have been large classes for this area (22-25). My classroom really wasn't built to handle that many students either, so it is squishy and cramped. This year should be spacious and glorious! :)

After we got home, I enjoyed time with my babies. My parents arrived back in town safely (yea!) and stopped by to give my little one his belated birthday gifts- a new car seat (THANK YOU, MOM and DAD, THANK YOU-THANK YOU- THANK YOU!!!!) and a new little jumper to wear. It is way cute.

After family prayers the two little boys dropped off to sleep and we had ice cream with my cutie pie princess. What a great helper she is. My oldest is at my sister's house until Sunday, so she has stepped right up and is helping out more than usual (and that is a lot). She finally crashed, and I can barely keep my eyes open. We are cleaning the motel for our friends again tomorrow AND Saturday- YUCK! So I better sign-off so I can rest up for cleaning toilets and making beds- YEE-HAW, now that is some great Green River fun right there- Yup!

Oh, I do need to mention that I received two of my assignments back for Dr. Aleman. He gave me A's on both of them (one was a real close call- phew). I am waiting for the final paper to be graded and also the group paper from Dr. Rorrer to be graded and returned. I hope that happens someday soon!

Later...

It Has Been a Week!

Today has been a wonderful day. I had the potential to not be so, however. Utah Power had a scheduled power outage for the entire city this morning starting at 6am and going until as late as 9am. Actually it was quite humorous. I woke up and the clock said 6:05am and I thought YEA! It is already done! Just then the power went off. I got to shower in the early morning light as well as shave. I am sure that didn't turn out so well. But, I guess since I don't have to look at it, it doesn't really matter to me. Anyways...

I guess I can catch you up on the last few days of my life!

Wednesday:

I headed over to Huntington with Melinda Durrant to meet with our group from class. We arrived at 9:30am and worked until class time (4:00pm). we even worked for a few minutes after class. We were working on getting out 6-8 page SINGLE SPACE GROUP PAPER completed as well as the power point presentation that needed to be ready. We got a great start on it! Two of the group members live there so they were very kind and generous to provide snacks and meals for us while we worked.

Thursday:

We reconvened the following morning at 8am and worked until 7pm. Even after all that time, we still only had 4 pages of our paper and most of the power point. It was a little discouraging on how long it was taking to try and make this assignment fit the teacher requirements. We had a great time as a group, and it was nice to work with people face-to-face and not just in "TV LAND" (as the on-site group likes to call us). Melinda and I headed home knowing that we would need to meet and finish off the paper. Which wasn't a big deal We had the basics all sketched out. We went to Wal-Mart (sadly- but required), and then came home. It was nice to see my wife and kiddos even though it had only been one night. However, I do have to say that I enjoyed visiting with my sister (who was nice enough to feed me and let me sleep on her floor Wednesday night...okay air matress for the night). We stayed up fairly late, but I was SO tired from all the early days and late nights that I didn't last long.

Friday:

Ms. Durrant and I met at the school at 8:30am to get the lab ready for the summer school program we created and have been running this summer. After that was over (it runs for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but since we were gone on Thursday, we moved it to Friday) I headed to Grand Junction with my parents and my 5-year old. We were on a Chest Freezer Mission. It was wonderful to spend the day with my little one. He often feels left out and neglected, so getting to spend almost a whole day with him was AWESOME! He had a lot of fun and was spoiled by grandma and grandpa (of course- although so was I. They got me some new shoes and BOY did I need them- Thanks mom and dad). While we were picking up "stuff" we also got Ms. D a freezer. I was glad to help her out. she has been wanting one, but had no way to get it to her house. Anyways, I also bought MORE PAVERS (I know right??!!?! With the amount of cement in our backyard in the form of pavers we could have just covered the whole yard! lol. But, we finished out a corner of the patio by the clothes line. I don't dare say it is done, as I am sure that we will add to it. But it is done "for now". After getting our new freezer setup and cooling, we headed over to our friends house. He and his family were cooking Korean food for us. The kids had hotdogs and hamburgers. I got to try lots of new things- and I liked them all. The fresh kim-chee about caught my mouth on FIRE! I tried dried seaweed (which tasted really good and earthy), uncured bacon (which tastes like porkchops in bacon form) on a lettuce roll with rice and some kind of red paste, and some wonderful rice-cake soup. I am sure all of those are titled wrong, but I did my best. Thanks Keith- the food was GREAT! After spending sometime visiting, we headed home. Since my wife has developed a painting bug, she had painted our piano room while I was gone to work on my paper. We came home from dinner and set to work putting the room back together. It turned out wonderful. It is elephant grey (although to me it looks purple in the lamp light- lol). It was about 12:00am when we finished. We then set to work moving all our frozen food around. We discovered that we had quite a bit of food that was VERY OLD! I was even able to hammer off the ice build up on our smaller deep freeze we already had. We are very excited to have THREE, yes 3, deep freezers. With that done, we tucked up our oldest son who had been helping us and went to bed.

Saturday:

Phew. Are you as tired as I am yet? Just typing all this is making me exhausted. I knew that I had A LOT to do before Melinda came at 2pm to finish the paper. I was able to wake up and work on many little projects (mounting the magazine rack to the wall, moving the power outlet box (not as big a project as you are thinking- just a box that plugs into an extension cord, watered the lawn, watered the garden, finished the patio corner, and added a new layer of sand grout to the walkway we added earlier this year. Unfortunately, it was 2pm and I still hadn't read anything for class. Oh well. Ms. D showed up and we set to work on our group paper while my wife worked on her Ward Newsletter. Thankfully Melinda is very gifted in the word department. She took what we had and added while I looked up quotations, citations, and internet resources to help beef up our paper. Around 11pm we finally finished. So, if my math is correct this silly paper took us: 28 hours. TWENTY-EIGHT HOURS! OH MY WORD (actually LOTS OF THEM- Over 1500 of them, I believe. After Ms. D headed home, my wife and I went to the church so we could copy the Sunday program (which she also creates weekly) and the monthly newsletter. We finally crashed around 1am.

Sunday:

I made it to all my meetings on time for once and had a good day at church. I was able to get A LOT done with updating the ward calling list and getting the new rolls printed for each auxiliary.

After church I took my oldest son and we delivered the ward's monthly newsletter (actually, my wife is the one who creates those every month- go babe!) to the five families that I am responsible to visit. It was nice to stop by, deliver the newsletter, and chat for a minute or two. I only had to leave ONE letter in the door.

From there I came home and had a wonderful dinner with my little herd. My wife got this amazing recipe for Baked Potato Chowder! Can you say YYYYYYUUUUUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

And this is coming from someone who DOES NOT like baked potatoes AT ALL!

After dinner we all settled in to our afternoon activities. What did I do (you may be thinking). Well, I tried REALLY hard to read all the articles that are due for tomorrow's class- but I found that I would wake up every ten minutes when my arm slipped on the arm rest- lol. So that didn't work out so well. I finally had my daughter come and play with her littlest pet shops on the floor by me so I would stay awake, and I got my son to come and play POGO by me so I would stay awake even more. In the end I ended up watching my daughter and helping my son. So, I got to spend time with my kids and STILL have to read (which at this point may just be considered a complete loss!- Darn it! lol)

I finally decided I needed out of the house so we loaded up the trooper and headed out to visit my parents. Well, that didn't go so great because they were out of town picking up their new 24-foot party boat (or something like that :) ) So, instead, we went for a drive. We went out Long street for a while (yes, that really is the name of the street, and YES it really is a LONG street!) Then we headed out to the south of town towards the old airport. We tried to drive up "G" hill but the car stalled and we ended up backing down. My poor little trooper just didn't have the guts to make it up the steep road. The kids were freaking out. I was a little freaked out at first, but it all worked out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! From there we took side roads and ended up somewhere in the middle of nowhere. No really, I mean in the middle of now where- like the road kept going, but had to end. The kids wanted to keep going, but I decided that it was time to head back to town. We came back into town and tried my parents again. I had called my mom and she said that they were within an hour. It had been 40 minutes and we figured we would just wait for them. Well... after 40 more minutes, and still no grandma and grandpa, we headed home. Of course, as we were piling out of our car they turned the corner and headed up the road to their house. The kids were bummed. That's okay. We will go tomorrow or Tuesday to see them and the new "toy".

That brings us to this point. I just enjoyed a simple meal and plan to finish this up. (I may read my articles, but most likely I will read my 2009 blog book and catch up on all the TIME magazines and catalogs I have been wanting to look at). I will be so grateful for the next two weeks to come and go. Then my summer classes will be over and summer can REALLY begin! :)

Have a great night!

Later...

Some New Favorite Terms

As I have spent many, many hours reading over the past year for my masters classes, I have been exposed to a plethora of new vocabulary words. I think it is interesting to see all the terms that have been created and used as labels.

My favorites, however, have come in just this last week of reading. I guess because they can translate so well in to the everyday world and situations that we face. I would like to share a few of them and help you enlarge your vocabulary as well (these are taken from an article by Deal & Petereson in 1999 titled, "Transforming Toxic Cultures"):

"Keepers of the Nightmare" which refers to people who never fail to remind everyone of dreams that went awry, hopes that have been dashed, and things in the past that did not work as they were supposed too.

I thought that this one was funny. I can think of many people who seem to fit this role. I love the name of this role.

"Negaholics" are people who "find something negative, nasty, unfavorable, or pessimistic" in anything that is said or done.

I think just as alcoholics struggle to give up their drink, negaholics THRIVE on the negative. I find that in today's world, it is more and more difficult to avoid being a negaholic. I think that this is the most prominent negative role of all that are listed. Too bad so many people I know are this way.

"Prima donnas" are those who want all the best of everything for only themselves, including: attention, focus, and everything to revolve around them.

I feel that this one is pretty self-explanatory. I think this term can apply to both male and females. However, most that I know who fit this role are female- lol.

and lastly, "Saboteurs" who are consistently looking for ways to "sabotage, scuttle, or ruin a new idea or positive activity that may occur".

Hmmm. Seems this one can really take things down quick.

I guess that those are all the terms I care to share right now. I will hopefully have time in the near future to share more of my favorite terms!

Later...

It Has Begun...

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Spring Break has officially begun! 6, six, S-I-X glorious days of rest and relaxation. Again is say, "WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

That is All I have to say about that!

I am excited for the break and the chance it will bring for me to spend much needed/wanted time with my sweet little family. I don't feel like I see them anymore. I always have some meeting or other to go to. My kids are always asking when they will get to see me. That is really sad.

My oldest son moved from a Wolf to a Bear tonight in cub scouts. We attended the Blue and Gold Banquet and watched as he received many awards and then had his ceremony to move to the next rank. I have it on video and may someday add it (however don't hold your breath).

My classes last night were nice. I actually enjoyed both. I even made numerous comments in one that I usually don't comment often in. I had the due date mixed up for the next writing assignment and thus I turned it in a week early. Oh well, at least now I can enjoy my break. I also asked about the next writing assignment and asked why we needed it. The teacher modified it and made it much more manageable (at least it seems that way to me). So I have two more assignments to live through and then I can be done! I WILL MAKE IT!!!!!

Well, it is getting late (not that I care because I don't have to wake up early) and my kids want a late snack and to play Pictureka. So, I am off to have fun!

Later...

Seriously....Again?!?!?

So I woke up to two new inches of snow this morning. That was a real treat to say the least! I guess the only good things about it (and this is pushing me to the extreme to even attempt to be positive about this crappy snow) is that it is now partly sunny and the snow is melting very rapidly. However, the forecast predicts MORE wonderful snow over the next three days. I guess local folklore states that this winter fits into the every 15-20 year cycle of snow up the wazoo! Figures, it would have to cycle through when I was living here. I hope we aren't here for the next cycle.

My sis-in-law is just leaving after having spent three days with us. What a blessing to have family close. Her and my wife had a great time working on baby shower invites for another sister and her two little girls had a great time with my kids. We wish she should have stayed another day. However, she did make the comment on her way out, as I had thanked her for coming and was teasing her about "being that way and just leaving" and she smartly replied, "At least I COME to visit! Oh!!! Snap..." Just goes to show you...

The snow made it really fun to drive around town this morning. I ended up going to get our food order from a neighbor who sells Alison's Pantry and to the post office. On the way back from the post office, I noticed that the older couple that cleans and maintains the public library were out battling the snow. I came home, got my snow shovel and headed back. I have asked to help many times in the past, but was always shooed away. Today, however, I didn't even ask, I just got out with my shovel and started shoveling. That was nice. I had a great visit with them as well. My oldest son walked down as well (we live a block away) and helped out as did two high school boys who were walking by. What a great way to start the day.

As I look at what is left of my Saturday, I am thankful that I was able to get all my planning and copying for the next week done yesterday. Last night I read a good portion of my college assigned reading, and this morning I have spent a great deal of time transferring all the photos from the 17 CD's my wife received for Christmas from her grandmother (father's mother). That took a while, but now my wife can access them, use them, and enjoy looking at them.

Well, I still have about 80 pages of textbook to read, research to do, and a HUGE portfolio to start on (it will take most of the next 1 and 1/2 years to complete- BLAH!). So, I guess I should quit playing around on here and get on with it.

Later...