Family Gathering

Today we got together with my side of the family for a summer family gathering. We went to a local park to BBQ, lounge around, talk and enjoy a beautiful August day with family. We had a great time!

Back to School

Can you tell I have going back to school on the brain? I can't believe summer is almost over already. I guess teaching summer school and being gone on vacation for 2 weeks has made this summer feel especially short. Starting on Monday, I will be setting up my classroom and then my first official (by that I mean paid) day of school is the 25th. The students will start on the 27th. I am starting to have the back to school dreams where I imagine a variety of interesting/frightening/hilarious things happening in my class. The funny thing is that sometimes I experience the real-life version of these dreams, or something similar at least. For the first time in 3+ years of teaching I will have a class of all new students, except for one I believe. This is the first year where I will not know everything about my students before I even start the year. It is exciting to feel like a "normal" teacher who starts fresh every year. I am looking forward to what this year will bring. I'm sure it will bring the usual ups and downs and some really great stories to tell at the dinner table. Oh the joys of teaching!

Marley Moo

Our Marley Moo is such a great pup. She enjoyed fetching her toys tonight under the super orange sunset. We love her!

Tahoe

My sister's wedding in Tahoe was beautiful! We had so much fun and it was wonderful to celebrate Robin and Forrest's marriage! The weather was really cold, cloudy and a little rainy for most of our trip but thankfully, the day of the wedding was 75 degrees and perfect! We had a great time!

Hume Lake

Hume is the most relaxing place I have ever vacationed. We slept in as long as we wanted, took as many naps as we wanted and basically did a whole lot of nothing for an entire week. Not only that, we were doing it all amid some of the most beautiful nature that you could ever imagine. We went to church, walked the lake, ate together, sailed, made/ate home-made ice cream, slept, watched a small plastic alligator grow (highly recommended you do the same- the incredible growing creatures can be found at the Dollar Tree), sat around the lake for hours, people watched, read Crazy Love, played games, talked, laughed, and slept some more. It is incredibly refreshing to turn off your cell phone for an entire week, never log on to the computer or check e-mail and watch zero TV. Living “unplugged” is something I would like to do more often. Our time together as a family was awesome. We had so much fun cracking jokes, cooking and eating together or just all sitting out on the deck, each of us reading a book. I feel so blessed to have married into such a loving family who treats me as if I have been around forever. It’s always a hoot when we are together!

Home at Last

After 2 long, wonderful, memorable weeks, we are happy to be home and to sleep in our own bed tonight! We had a blast in Hume Lake, Lincoln and Tahoe. I will post about our trip along with some pictures soon!