A Visit from Grandma Sue and End of the School Year Activities

 I am totally playing catch-up as I write this. It's June now, but I'm going to date this post back to the end of May and pretend I wrote it on time. lol

Visit from Grandma Sue

Ok! So, as the longest winter EVER drew to a close, my mom planned a trip to come out and visit us and see our new, new home! ;) It even snowed a little one morning when she was here! Mid-April and still getting snow!!! (People were NOT happy.) We had officially moved into our new Summerfield house in mid-March and she came out about a week after our spring break trip to St. George. She was here from Wednesday, April  19 to Sunday, April 23. It was only four days, but it was really fun to spend time with her and have her see our house. We went to see to new Super Mario Bros. movie, went to the pool, played foosball, went shopping in Idaho Falls, and just hung out! The kids had school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but I took off and got a sub because my 8th graders were just doing iSAT testing that week anyways. Here are some pictures!

Avery's DARE Graduation

Avery is our last kid to graduate from DARE! Am I sad that I won't have to sit through another one of those DARE graduations ever again? No. lol But, she really ended on a high note because she apparently was one of the DARE essay winners! We didn't even know this until that night. She was sitting up there in a front row on the bleachers, and my friend Brittaini leaned over and said, "Is she one of the essay winners? They moved her down to sit on the front row!" Sure enough, when they announced the winners (two from each class I think) she was one of them! However, technically she didn't write an essay. They were given the choice to either write an essay or make a video. She chose the video option and we helped her film it using Zeus, playing the part of a drug dog. It was pretty cute. Here are some pictures of her with her little medal!

Caleb finished his first track season

Caleb did really well in track this year. He had decided to do track on a whim (how he typically decides to do anything) because the track coach was his ag science teacher, Mrs. Hassard, and she kind of talked him into it. He had lots of track meets and I only went to a couple because they were typically out of town and during the school day. One of the highlights was when he took third place in the shot put and the Bear Grizz meet in Idaho Falls. He was third place out of all the freshmen throwers and I think there were about 30 of them! In the end, he did make it to districts, but he didn't make it to state (only one freshman from Madison made it to state - Mia Walsh, who is a super fast runner). It was a fun experience for him to try something new. I don't know if he will do it next year, but maybe!

End of the school year

I probably should've taken some last-day-of-school pictures of my own kids standing outside our front door, but instead, I took lots of pictures of my students in our classes. This school year, I had some really fun, really outgoing students. I feel like this year challenged me because the students really were so outgoing and outspoken in class, so it was hard to keep them listening to me all the time. But we really had a lot of fun and I feel like I was able to bond with this group more than any group before. They were some really good kids that I will miss. It feels weird not seeing them every day now because they really became "my kids." The last few weeks of school we were busy doing the How-To speeches and then the last week of school was basically one giant party. They got their yearbooks Tuesday, had the attendance final Wednesday, and then had two half-days on Thursday and Friday, so it was kind of weird. Tuesday was really the last day that I saw most of my students. Here are some pictures!

Yard getting started

Last odds and ends to talk about... The Kartchner people finally got our concrete poured for our driveway and back patio, our AC installed, and our final grade done in our yard. This summer, we need to get our sprinklers, our fence, and our grass laid down! It will be a process, but it better all be done by the end of August! Here are a couple more pictures of me with the kids on Mother's Day (Caleb is on his tippy toes... he is still an inch shorter than Gabe) and Avery with some friends at a neighborhood pool party!

 Easter/Spring Break in St. George

We had the best spring break this week! It wasn't even a true full week, but we left on Saturday morning and got back on Wednesday night. On Saturday, April 8 we drove to the Salt Lake area. We went to Ikea, went to the Loveland Aquarium, and then headed over to Chris and Holly's house for the night. I wish I would've taken some pictures with Chris and Holly and their kids! They have two sets of twins now - the girls are 2 and the boys are 5! They are right in the midst of like, total chaos with little kids! Haha It was fun watching them and I was thinking about how I remember those days clearly, and they seemed so long at the time, but they go by really fast! I told Holly her "kid days" will go especially fast because she has them in sets of two! Anyways, we woke up in the early morning, quick did Easter baskets, and then we headed out to drive the rest of the way to St. George. 

Right before we got to St. George, we stopped at our favorite hike right off the highway called Red Reef Trail. This was our third time doing this hike, and it was the deepest the water has ever been at the waterfall part. Everywhere is Utah and Idaho has had soooo much snow this year, and it's just barely starting to get warm. This made for all the waterfalls on the hikes to be flowing! While we were on the hike, we ran into this family called the Dalbys. They live in Rexburg and I've had their daughter, Josie, in my class before. Caleb also is friends with their son, Brigham. They have 8 kids, so there was also one Avery's age and two around Gabe's age. We ended up not only hanging out with them on the hike, but also for the next few days because they were coincidentally staying at the same resort as us!

We stayed at Las Palmas this time and it was super fun! There were 3 pools, pickleball courts, and lots more.  The weather was also TOTALLY PERFECT. We really lucked out. It was in the 80s every day so we just went on that first hike, plus one other short hike to Gunlock Falls, and then we mostly just relaxed by the pool for two days. Caleb told me, "Mom, this was the first trip that you didn't over-plan." Thanks, Caleb. Here are some pictures of our adventures!

Besides the trip to St. George, we've just been trying to get settled into our new house and finish up the school year. We've been in our house for just over a month now. Teo (the cabinet guy we used on our last house too) just barely got our bookshelves in the living room all finished up. Now I just need to decorate them! We also need to patch up the wall in a couple places because they had a hard time getting the shelves in and they kind of dinged up some spots on the walls. But they look good! It definitely makes the room look better!

Caleb has been busy with track, even though they keep having to change things because of the weather. This spring has been the worst I can ever remember. I even heard Mr. Mitchell, the oldest teacher at the junior high, talking to someone in the hall yesterday and HE said it's the longest, coldest spring HE can ever remember, so you know that's a long time. We even had snow the day we got back from Saint George! That was rough. Waking up on Thursday morning to go back to school was hard in the first place... then add an inch of snow on the ground. Luckily, it melted the next day. Now the ground is basically bare of snow again, but we can see all the dirt and trash from the construction debris everywhere around our house. We are hoping they will send some guys to clean that all up and then level out everything soon. They told us they would put in our driveway "when everything dries out" so that could be June at this rate. It will be so nice when we have grass and a fence for Zeus. Letting him out is a pain. He already attacked our next-door neighbor, the Burton's, dog once already. I had let him out because he was about to barf (which he did) and then he finished barfing, looked up, saw their dog tied up just outside their back door, and made a beeline straight toward it and started attacking it! I don't know what we are going to do about him. He needs a fence. 

Also, Caleb finally got his long-awaited for ebike. He was almost going to get a dirtbike, but then at the last minute he decided an ebike would be better and I'm really glad. It was still like $1500, which is crazy, but I thin he will ride it to work at the waterpark this summer, so that will be worth it. I don't want to always drive him. 

Gabe is busy trying to excel at school and he's taking the ACT at the high school as I type this. He's been doing a prep class and stressing out about it for the past month. Hopefully, he does well. Honestly though, I don't think BYUI has strict requirements for the ACT score, so it'll probably be fine either way. That's where he's thinking he wants to go. We also celebrated his 17th birthday on March 23! It was pretty low-key. He didn't want me to invite friends over for cake, so we just had cake as a family and grandma Rhodes came over. We tried to give him an Apple watch, but he's so practical that he told us to return it the next day because he didn't think he would use it. I also got him som new ear pod things that he wanted, but they were like $20 (they were the ones he wanted)! He's a very thrifty, practical person. He will probably be rich someday. 

Avery is excited for the school year to be almost done. 5th grade has been kind of a tough year for her. She really hasn't liked her math teacher, Mrs. Zonts, and she seems like she's trying to figure out who her friends are this year. She loved being in St. George and was very mad to come home to snowy Rexburg. She likes playing tennis and pickleball and doing coloring or art projects. 

Josh has been busy with work and he had to go to Boise right when we got back from St. George for the Daybell trial. They should just shoot them both and be done with it. Quit wasting everyone's time and money. I have been busy wrapping up the school year and trying to decide if I'm staying a teacher next year. I really have these days where I'm like, "I don't want to do this next year." But at the same time, I've looked into other things and haven't found anything that I think will be better. The principal even bought me a brand-new MacBook Air yesterday. The students saw him bring it in at lunch and this kid Dawson goes, "I think he really wants you to stay." lol Yup. I often get to see pictures of me teaching on BeReal, so here is another day in the life of my classroom. 

So I probably will stay another year. I just know if I stay next year, I am basically committing myself to another three years because I will want to teach while Avery is at the junior high. Once I hit my five-year mark as a full-time employee, then I am "vested" which means something about retirement money. I probably get like $200 a month or something when I turn 60. Big deal right?

So, we will see! This trimester actually has probably been one of my best trimesters with students ever. I genuinely really like all of them right now and don't really have any that are super difficult. I am definitely ready for a summer break though!! 

Job Limbo and WE ARE MOVED IN!

MOVED IN!

The big news is... we moved into our new, new house! We officially closed on Wednesday, March 8th and we started moving a few things in that night. Then on Thursday, we moved the rest of our stuff, including our beds, and we slept there for the first time on March 9th. I took Friday off, which was really nice because then I could get some things unpacked and feel like I wasn't living in total chaos. Now it is March 19th, and we are feeling mostly settled, but we still haven't emptied out all of our storage unit stuff yet. We did get the appliances and some other big things out, but we are kind of waiting until the weather warms up and we can paint our garage before we get EVERYTHING out of the storage unit.

It feels really good to be moved in and actually feel like this is where we are supposed to be. I didn't have that uneasy, hesitant feeling I had when I was unpacking everything in our other new house. I actually was like, "Come on! Let's get everything unpacked and get settled!" There is still a lot to do with the lawn and a fence and the garage, but it already feels more like home than the other house ever did for me. 

As I write this, Gabe and Caleb are outside playing basketball across the street with Noah Rolph, Gabe Appleby, and some other boys that live in the neighborhood. I just love the way that they can come and go and have friends around. I also love the 13th ward that we are in now. There's some really good, fun youth for the boys. Avery still seems to find something wrong with most people she meets (eye roll), but she's got a couple friends. One of them is a girl named Clara (I don't even know her last name).

Job next year?

The other big thing that's been weighing heavy on my mind lately is that I still don't know what I'm doing next year. I had that other job offer to go work at Central next year, and I was totally planning on that from about mid-January to mid-February. I told all my students I was doing that next year, I told the principal and the other teachers, etc. But then I took a day off school one day and actually went over to Central for the day and job-shadowed Cherri Hart (the lady who is retiring) and it was soooooooo boring! Like, I couldn't even stand being there for the day. Plus, Central is a very different place than the junior high or high school. It is a run-down little building with a small amount of students that all seemed like they wanted to hurt me when I passed them in the hallways! lol Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it just didn't have a great vibe. So I thought about it for another day, and then I went and told Mike Bennet (the principal of Central) that I, in fact, was NOT going to be taking that job next year. He was really good about it. But then, of course, my current principal at the junior high was immediately asking me, "So, does this mean you'll still be teaching here next year?" And for that, I still do not have an answer. 

I REALLY want to only work 3-4 days a week! I don't want to work every single day. I hate feeling like I have to do all the grocery shopping and house things on Saturday, and then we have NO time to play as a family! So, I've been kind of looking around at some other job options, but so far I haven't found anything that seems perfect. Who knows... maybe I will teach another year. I'm just kind of waiting and hoping this perfect job presents itself in the next couple of weeks! :{

Caleb is on the track team

Also, Caleb started track! This is a new sport for Caleb and I'm pretty sure he's just doing it because there are some cute girls on the team, but also one of his teachers (Mrs. Hassard, his agriculture science teacher) is the coach and told him he should do shot put and discus. So Josh and I went to Twin Falls the other day for his first track meet. It was a lot of waiting around for his turn, but he did really well! I think he threw the discus 85 feet and he threw the shotput about 32 feet. The coach said that's really good for someone's first time ever. 

Avery and Gabe aren't really in any sports right now, but Gabe keeps busy going to Tuesday church activities, mayor's youth board, and he's taking an ACT prep class right now that's ever Monday and Wednesday for two hours after school. Avery just finished up the tennis season at the end of February, which she loved. She would just go practice at the fieldhouse on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January and February. I think she will do that again in the summer, but the high school tennis kids run it and their real season started just barely, so they can't do anything with the kids for the next few months. Here is a picture of Gabe with his friends watching Taycee participate in the Distinguished Young Woman pageant. 

Oh, and basketball season was awesome this year! We went to almost every home game. Carter is on the JV team (he is a sophomore), but he often played some of the Varsity games too. The Varsity boys ended up going to state, but they got out on their second game, so I think they ended up taking 4th overall in the state. It was still a really fun season to watch.

Here are a couple more random pictures. Josh spoke at Avery's school and Zeus went along and pretended to be a police dog. haha I also have some pictures here of me teaching, courtesy of a boy named Dawson who likes to take his BeReal every day during English class!

I think that's all for now! 

House Progress, New Job Offer, and Vegas!

Two blog posts in one month?! Who dis?? New year, new me! I was actually thinking of printing out a blog book because i haven't printed one in a while, but then I realized I've only made four blog posts since I last printed one in September of 2021... soooo..... I should probably write a few more and write more often! Then I can justify printing another blog book in a few months maybe! It's been a crazy two years, okay?! The last time I printed a book, we had just sold our Summerfield house and were moving into the Meadows townhouse. Now, we have moved a few more times.... so once we get settled again... maybe I will print a blog book and it will contain the two years full of moving!

Anyways! I just wanted to write about a few exciting things for January!

Las Vegas Trip for Josh and I

On January 13, Josh and I flew out of Idaho Falls with Cody and Lindsey Summers and went to Vegas for the long weekend. The kids didn't have school on Monday, January 16 because of it being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We had some flight vouchers with Allegiant that we had to use before March, so Josh and I decided to just take a short little trip. We stayed at the Mirage, which we found out once we got there that it had just been sold to the Hard Rock. So if we ever go back, it will probably look a lot different! They are going to start remodeling it next year. When I booked the trip, I was expecting it to be warm and sunny and I wanted to just lay out at the pool. But sadly, it was pretty cold and rainy while we were there! The high was about 55 on Sunday. It rained most of the day on Saturday. We didn't lay out at the pool once. We walked the strip, ate a TON at the Bacchanal Buffet in Caesar's Palace, saw a show at the Rio, walked Fremont Street, and drove through the Red Rock Canyon area. It's changed a lot since Josh, Gabe, and I used to live there when Gabe was one! Here are some pictures!

New Job Offer

So, I've been saying since the beginning of this school year that I didn't know if I wanted to teach full-time next year or not. I really was starting to feel burnt out and like I was just wanting more time at home to be a mom again. So I was looking at the school district website one night in late December, and I saw this job posting for an "online coordinator" for the Madison school district. I didn't really know what the job was, so I reached out to a couple of people and asked about it. Long story short... I ended up getting offered the job the first week in January. So I really went back and forth thinking about it for about a week. I talked to Melissa Clark, my co-worker at the junior high, about it. She said, "You know... you might as well try it and if you hate it after a year, you can always come back to teaching." She also advised me to talk to Mike Bennett, the guy who offered me the job who would basically be my boss, and tell him any concerns I was having about taking it. I asked him if it needed to be full-time and he said we could probably reduce my hours to .75 time. So starting next fall, I am going to work from 8am-2pm Monday through Thursday at a school called Central, and then I'll work from home on Fridays. I'm really excited about that part! Just being able to stay in my jammies all day and put laundry in and get some things done around the house or start some dinner for the evening actually sounds REALLY nice. I wish there was a way that I could just work like, 3 days a week and then have 2 full days a week off, but maybe in a couple more years. So basically, the job description is coordinating the online program, helping out the online teachers, getting kids registered for online classes, and possibly even teaching a couple online high school classes myself. It's nice because I will still get summers off and all of the school holidays! So, that will start this fall and I'm sure I will cry on my last day of school in my classroom at the end of May, but hopefully, it will be a good change for me and my family. (No pictures to represent me getting a job offer, so here are some pictures of me in my classroom.)

House Progress

The new Summerfield house is coming right along! They painted it and laid the LVP flooring last week. This week, they will install cabinets and the rock on the fireplace. They also started the siding. The whole back side of the house is done, and they are starting on the sides. They are still telling us we will close in March, but we don't know if that means the beginning, the middle, or the end of March. I'm hoping for somewhere around March 10th! Our lease ends here in this townhouse on March 9, so it would be amazing if we didn't need to extend it at all, but I'm kind of expecting we will need to. Maybe I will ask them about paying for half the month or something. 

Avery Finally Got Her Ears Pierced

Avery has been going back and forth for years about if she wanted to get her ears pierced or not. I think I first suggested it when she was about 4 and she always said, "No way!" Well, she finally came home from school one day and said she wanted to do it. So, Josh and I took her to Claire's inside Walmart and she picked out some tiny purple studs. She was super nervous, but as soon as it was done, she said, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." All those years of putting it off, and she was just fine. So now she has to wear those for three weeks, then she can switch to some other studs for a few more weeks. She's excited to wear the other earrings she picked out that look like little doughnuts. 

Here are a few other random photos of sledding, swimming, and going to the Idaho Museum for the "Toytopia" exhibit with Avery! Most of our evenings are spent at the clubhouse pool, so I figured I should post a picture that represented that! We also have been going to a lot of basketball games, both the 8th graders at the junior high that I teach and also Carter's JV team. The Varsity team has been doing really well lately, so it's been fun to go watch those games. Hopefully, the next time I write, we will be close to moving into our house!