Summer Break!

Last Friday was my last day of school which means I am officially on summer break. And I love it! We got in a ton of family time over the weekend and now I'm getting to spend my days with Porter-- which is just how I like it!

Here are some highlights from my summer break so far . . .

We took Porter to a local fun center place- he rode the rides all by himself. SUCH a big boy! I thought he'd cry, but he didn't. He's growing up SO fast.

Went mini-golfing. Porter's a natural!

Had a Memorial Day bbq with my mom & little sister. Brian & I spent the day trying out new pie recipes for the occasion- Brian made a raspberry pie & I made a chocolate cream. They were both very delicious and worth all the effort. The night before, my little sis and I had seen a picture on Pinterest about cutting a watermelon this way. So when we got a watermelon for dinner, we just had to try it. Isn't that funny?!

Porter spends lots of time outside now that it's warmer (don't know what we'd do without a fenced backyard!). Since he loves it so much, I like to put him to work watering the flowers & plants. He does a great job!

I just had to include a picture of this. On the last day of school, this little boy brought me a hand-carved knife with my name burnt into it. It really is SO cool. The other side is gorgeous too- it has more designs and says "I love you, Mrs. Nye." How thoughtful! And the thing is, I feel so hard-core now that I have this . . . like I could hold my own in a room full of scouts or something! Weird, I know!

The Windy City

A couple weeks ago, I went to Chicago to attend the IRA (International Reading Association) Conference. Because of some work I'm doing with my school district, they sent me there. It was busy, busy, busy, and wonderful! I had hoped I'd get to see more of the city, but the conference kept my schedule pretty packed. Instead, I just got to enjoy the views from my hotel room on the 45th floor. And I got to know the restaurants surrounding the hotel pretty well too. So as far as that block of Chicago goes, I think it's a pretty nice place!

 I also got to know some lovely ladies from my school district while I was there. I think there were 9 of us from our district that went. They definitely took me under their wing and watched out for me in my super-pregnant state while I was there.

Traveling while pregnant isn't so bad . . . I sleep as poorly as I would at home and lifting my suitcase around is no worse than carrying Porter. But because I get SO stinkin' huge while I'm pregnant, the hard part is hearing all the whispers behind me as I walk to my seat on the plane and the captain coming out of the cockpit with huge eyes telling the rest of my group that we better not be delivering a baby on this flight. I know I'm huge. I just sometimes get tired of explaining to everyone that I'm not really that close to delivery.

The conference was amazing. It was pretty exciting to see so many "big" people in the education field all in one place. If I were to list names, you probably would've never heard of them. But I have, and it was exciting to see them and actually listen to presentations given by them! Another highlight was the authors. I'm a little obsessed with children's books. At this conference, they brought in several authors to do book signings. I've never been big into things like that. But while I was there, I got this great idea to build up a library of books for Porter and Lucy signed by these authors. I didn't get many though, since I chose to go to the classes more often than I chose to wait in line for an hour to meet an author.

Finally, after 4 days, I boarded the plane to go back home. As much fun as I had, I could not wait to get back. I was miserable being away from Porter and Brian. I didn't think it would affect me so badly, but it did. We had the fortune of flying out of and into the Provo Airport. Instead of driving an hour to Salt Lake, this airport is just down the street. I can't tell you how nice it is to get off the plane and be home in less than 10 minutes. So wonderful!

 Porter and Brian were right there on the tarmac to meet me when I got off my flight. I was SO happy to see them! I don't plan on leaving like that again for a long while. I missed them too much!

By the way, please excuse the crummy photos-- I used my phone camera for the whole trip!