Pictures from Friday

Hung out with D's parents and sister-in-law. Went a couple of familiar places and a couple of new places. First time I've ever seen the elk bugling... cool :)

The valley I live in.


Pelicans


Beware the moose!

K & T's Wedding

The wedding was beautiful - outside, on a hillside facing the mountains. The sun came out just as the bride walked down the aisle and stayed out for the entire ceremony before returning to it's hiding place behind the clouds.



I actually laughed during the ceremony - several times - and that was a pleasant change. They wrote their own ceremony and their own vows. Their dog was the ring bearer.

The reception was beautiful too and they had a couple of genius ideas:
1. The party favors for the guests were Moon Pies, repackaged with the first letter of the last name written in icing.

2. They had a Photo Booth for the guests and there were even fun hats, sunglasses and feather boas. Everyone had a blast getting dressed up and posing for funny pictures. The guests could get up to two copies of the pictures and the guys running the booth kept one set of pictures and added it to scrapbook pages for the bride and groom! Genius!

i don't think there's a word for how tired i am. good day, but i'm exhausted.

Week 3/Field Trip

Week three is almost done and I've got my first field trip tomorrow. We're taking the 8th graders to the local YMCA for a variety of activities, including: high ropes, zip line and a fun personality test.

Should be a good day - but I predict I'll be completely exhausted by the end of it.

Not really a stretch considering I'm exhausted at the end of every day :)

Mustang Sanctuary

went 2 c mustangs again 2day. only 1/2 as many in herd after they rounded them up last year, but i still saw bout 30. lotsa pics too - will share.

Week 2 Done!

Survived my second week - BUSY - but it has flown by.

Yesterday I hand lunch duty and I helped another teacher out with her class during my plan. I never realized exactly how much that 45 minutes of silence helps me survive my day!

Trivia last night went well.

Book club at my house tonight - just a get-together to catch up after summer and decide what our next book should be :)

Overall... I'm good.

Dreams

Weird dreams last night.

First I met a bunch of former Dallas Cowboys - went to a party at Troy Aikman's house.

Then came the Buffy - Star Trek cross-over dream... odd.

It started out with us (faceless friends and myself) fighting vampires in an underground tunnel. Then we popped up in someone's basement, stole their Wii and battled some demons. In the process of our escape we were running through a forest, during a lightening storm, when an invisible musical chorus started singing "Khan! Khan! The wrath of KHAN!"

Then I woke up.

Very strange.
Very vivid.

finds it sad that Lucky Charms shrank their marshmallows. They aren't as magically delicious now. = (

WOOT! 1st place at trivia! Finally! We won the first 2 rounds. 2nd place in 3rd round and won overall!

2nd year. Day 2. Survived. Wonky tech problems and all.

Back to school

Teachers were back in session today and we've got a week of trainings, registration (day), meetings, and getting ready before school starts next Wednesday.

I'm way more mellow than I was this time last year - I was pretty stressed about all the unknowns that were waiting for me.

I'm actually kind of excited to be starting my second year and super excited about my new classroom (pictures coming soon).

And cuz it's funny:

Do you wanna date my avatar? - from the creator (and cast) of The Guild.

there's something magical-fascinating bout huge chunks of rock travelling thru space 2gether only 2 meet their end in a fiery blaze

beautiful, clear night. perfect 4 watching a meteor shower.

< 4 hrs sleep. in the middle of nowhere. 7+ hrs from home. rocking out 2 Tommy, puppy snuggles & LOTS of coffee.

Fun & Unexpected

I've really enjoyed catching up with my old MN friends.

Kaylee spent one entire day being nagged by a 10 week old puppy, but she never lost her patience with him. This little guy, Riley, WORE HER OUT! He kept nipping at her ears and tackling her and she put up with him. She showed more patience than I would have thought possible and even managed to herd him away from an older dog - one that would have snapped at the little guy. She's a good momma dog!





We spent a couple of days on the North Shore with Chris & Ash where Kaylee enjoyed playing with their dog, Chamber. She didn't show the same patience she had with Riley. I'm guessing it had something to do with Riley being 1/2 her size, while Kaylee is only half Chamber's size. Plus Chamber is a year old and Riley is only 10 weeks. I guess she only has so much patience... she put Chamber in his place a couple of time, sending the big dog whimpering and running back to his human momma.


Kaylee was nice enough to pose for a pic by Lake Superior:


We also spent a couple of days down in the Twin Cities with Chris and Doug. I miss my old RA friends!

Kaylee and I (and several of our human friends) went to the county fair and resisted the urge to try the "Oofda Tacos" (only in Minnesota!)


Monday night, at trivia, I ran into Mr. Froyd (soon to be Dr. Froyd). That was... unexpected.

This Saturday I'll be attending a wedding celebration and Sunday we've scheduled a big breakfast with friends... then back to Colorado and my responsibilities!

Monday I'll pick up my sweet little kitty cat... Boy she is gonna be SOOOO ticked off at me... *cringe*

sitting on the shore of lake superior with two friends. wtg on food. enjoying great view and company.

i can take a hint. kaylee says she's been stuck in car way too much. she chewed thru the laces on my rt shoe. need 2 spend more time w/her.

Minnesota

I've been busy hanging out with friends, catching up with them, and throwing a baby shower.

We had lots of fun activities for the party goers. If you're in need of some ideas, here's what we did:

1. Potty Humor - newborn diapers and a marker for people to leave funny sayings on the diapers - "Leave a message for Mom and Dad to help get them through those 3am diaper changes." (Example - "This one's for you Dad!" or "I love you!")

2. Recommend Baby Names - just a piece of paper and a pen for people to share their ideas.

3. Baby Trivia - I found a questionnaire (20 questions) online about babies/pregnancy and the person with the most right won a prize.

4. Bottle Count - Guess how many M&M's (or other candy) are in the bottle. We had 5 bottles with varying numbers of candies. Mom and Dad got to keep the bottles and the winner got to keep the candy (and choose a prize).

5. Baby Advice - Note cards and a pens - a chance for party goers to share their advice with the new Mom and Dad.

6. Baby Wishes - Scrapbook paper and pens - party goers can leave wishes for the baby to be placed in their baby book.

having brunch with friends/adopted family. baby shower today. lots of prep left to do.

made it to b-town safe and sound. yaaaaaaaaay! good to be back with my peeps! missed them SO much.

Oofda. My brain hurts. I get enogh of that during the school year. This is cruel and unusual punishment! But kinda fun too...

at resort 4 a conference/training. shwanky. 2 hrs 2 kill b4 it starts.

MmmMmm! I love me some Olive Garden! In Denver enjoying one of the luxuries of big city life.

More pics from Mom's trip

Deer in an aspen grove:


A view up high:


More Rocky Mountain National Park pictures:







And a marmot in RMNP - I love these guys!


Horsies!


A columbine in my front garden:


Kaylee and Sheba playing:


And after she left... a rainbow as seen from my back yard:

Eeee! Sitting in a theater wtg 4 Transformers... anticipation building. Hope it's as good as 1st one :)

Back Home

Second day of blogging class completed. I certainly learned a lot... hopefully they did as well. I still have one month of online work and then a one hour webinar in July.

Blogging Class

I'm teaching a 2+ day blogging class for teachers. Today was day 1 and it went pretty well. I was so nervous to start with, but the participants were very kind and I felt at ease fairly quickly.

One more day tomorrow and a one hour webinar next month for wrap-up.

dropped mom off at the airport. raining. traffic jam.

Estes Park Wool Market

As I mentioned before - I did indeed survive my first year of teaching, though the last day held a surprise for me...

Picked mom up at the airport on Friday afternoon and stayed in Denver that night to help her adjust to the altitude.

Saturday morning we headed over to Estes Park to check out their Wool Market. Lots of animals - lots of pretty stuff - good time.

Sunday we went through Rocky Mountain National Park and saw elk, moose, big horn sheep, RM goats, marmots, pika...:

I've seen them several times since moving to Colorado, but this is the first chance I've had to get a picture of a Rocky Mountain Goats... too bad they were so far away:


Elk


Today we went for a drive to the closest Target and mom spotted a moose. I pulled over and as I was getting out to take picture he decided to cross the road.

Fun @ wool market. Pretty day - rain now. Mom and I have reached a new level of tired. Spending 2night here then home 2morrow.

Just picked mom up @ airport and we're sitting at Ruby Tuesday. All done with work (minus blogging class) til August 18th. Ahhhhhhhh.