Bear Lake

For the 4th of July we went to Bear Lake with Brian's parents and his sis & bro-in-law. They all stayed in cabins and we camped. It was our first time camping with Porter, and oh my goodness, it was an adventure.

First of all, Porter is not fun to sleep next to in a tent. He's a cutie, but he's also quite loud when he wakes up at 5 am. But it had its good sides too- he is stinkin' cute when he puts his face next to mine, smiling really big, waiting for me to open my eyes in the morning. Also, it's fun seeing him experiencing new things.

We stayed at a KOA campground. They had this amazing Jumping Pillow thing that Porter absolutely adored. We seriously need to find a way to get one of those in our backyard. Well, maybe we should work on getting a backyard first.

We went on bike rides; both on normal bikes . . .

and not-so-normal bikes. . .

On the night of the 4th, we did sparklers and pop-its with Porter, then put him to bed to the sounds of loud fireworks. Luckily, he was tired enough to sleep through it all.

My favorite part of the entire trip, though, was playing on the beach with Porter. The lake was actually much higher than it normally is, so it was a little tricky finding a beach at all. But it was well worth the search. Apparently Porter LOVES water. He seriously loves it. So cute!

Independence

Happy Independence Day! . . . a few days late. Brian and I celebrated early by going to Stadium of Fire in Provo on Saturday. We loved it!

A few of the highlights were . . .

Parachutes:

David Archuleta (he's the little tiny guy wearing white in the center of the stage):

BRAD PAISLEY!!!

And lots & lots of fireworks:

Of course, we also celebrated on July 4th with Porter- that post is coming soon. 

Alpine Week

We spent all last week in Utah County. I was doing a workshop with Alpine School District, Brian was finishing up his finals for summer semester, and Porter was very patiently shuffling around with new babysitters and adjusting to sharing a hotel room with his parents (or rather, his parents were trying to adjust to sharing a room with him!). It was a busy, busy week, to say the least!

I had a great week with the Alpine teachers and learned so much from them. That's not to say I didn't have a migraine from stress every single day . . . but it did make me reminiscent of the days when I was an Alpine teacher--and I missed it.

Luckily, since we were so close to my new school, we took a truckload and began unloading ALL of my junk into my new classroom during our evenings. Here's what it looked like before we unloaded my stuff:

And I'll spare you from an after-picture. Just imagine every desk and countertop stacked with boxes and storage crates and books and math supplies. I should have just thrown it all away- the classroom looks so much nicer without all the STUFF! However, that would also make for a pretty boring year for my new first-graders. Ahh, the things I do for them!

We definitely enjoyed a week of hot breakfast prepared for us and room service cleaning up after us. But that being said, hotel life can get pretty old after a week. We were anxious to get home  by the weekend- even if we had to prepare our own breakfast and make our own beds.

We returned home for a couple days to do laundry, attend a very special baptism (our sister-in-law and 2 nephews), have a fun dinner at Olive Garden with Grandma & Grandpa Nye, and attend church. Then we left again. I'm starting to think I should've taken my summer off!

Our Update for May

I was reading blogs yesterday and found myself getting annoyed that my favorite blogs hadn't been updated for 2-3 days. Horrible, right?! Then I found my way back to our blog and saw that our last post was almost a month ago. Woops!

So here's our update:
Brian has returned to attending school full time. He loves being back in classes, and the hour-long commute each way gives him lots of audio book time. Not sure I'd be so happy about that, but he is.

I've been busy preparing for the end of my school year (this Friday!). I'm going to miss my cute first graders so much, but I have to admit it'll be nice to have some of my stress gone. However, there's no summer break for me this year- I'll be facilitating the USOE Common Core Academy for 4-5 weeks throughout the summer, and in whatever free time I have I'll be moving classrooms and hopefully selling/moving our home. Lots to do!

Porter has been busy walking, talking, and getting used to going to babysitters again. You can definitely tell he's having Daddy-withdrawals. When Brian's home, Porter whines & cries and won't be happy until Daddy's holding him. But even with the whining and tears, he's just as cute as ever!

And because no post is complete without pictures, here are a few . . .

Here's Porter watching Mommy & Daddy play tennis with Uncle Brad & Aunt Katie. Did I mention our condo has tennis courts? It does. Kinda makes you want to move here, right?

I know he looks bored in the first picture, but he actually quite enjoys being outside with us. He stays busy by throwing tennis balls into the court:

Here are Brian & I at the Capitol Theater. We went last week to see Les Miserables with Brian's fam. Brian's parents got us all tickets for Christmas-- such a great gift!

Also, we had a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Sudweeks. They only stayed one day since they were just passing through on their way to see Uncle Deven graduate in Arizona (so glad I wasn't doing that drive!). But Porter loved the time he got to see them:

And one last picture-- Brian brought donuts in for my class last week with a special one for me:

No, I did not finish it . . . in case you were wondering!

finally

 Look who's finally walking! It took us 15 1/2 months to get here . . . but he made it! 

And, oh boy, does he love his new-found freedom!

Need a Condo?

Anyone? Pretty please? And if you don't need one, please say you know someone else wanting to move to Clearfield. Send them our way. Or at least send them to the online tour:

www.tourfactory.com/691479

Our plan is to move to Utah County . . . hopefully soon. But first we have to get our condo sold; which isn't happening. So PLEASE help us spread the word. You'll make me very happy! How can you turn that down, right? Okay, let's get serious here: if you send someone to us and they buy our house, I'll buy you a month's supply of ice cream. Cross my heart. Now that's an offer you can't turn down-- at least I'm pretty sure I couldn't. But if you convince someone to move to Clearfield who isn't even planning on moving, I'll make it 2 months' supply. Do I sound like an infomercial now or what?! And maybe just a little desperate- I'm not trying to hide it!

So there you have it. You can go call all your friends and family now. =)

Thanks for humoring me!

books, books, and more books!

One thing that's stuck with me from my reading endorsement classes is a study I read that recommends children get 1000+ hours of book time before entering kindergarten. That's a lot. Porter's got a long way to go! Another study says that the more books that are in a home, the greater chance a child has for academic success. Greater vocabularies, higher reading levels, etc. That one's pretty obvious, right?

Anyway, this is my explanation for my obsession with buying children's books. That, and I teach elementary school- I'm pretty sure this particular obsession is prerequisite for becoming a teacher.

You all know I'm not one to throw parties, let alone a selling party. However, I found out last week that one of my friends from church sells Usborne books. That one hit my weakness. I told her I wanted to buy some books but didn't want to throw a party. So she sent up an online party for me instead.  I told her I'd post it on my blog in case any of you wanted to buy some books too. But please know that there's no pressure. Here's the info:

Hosted by: Dana Nye
Place: www.myubam.com/HOS197166
When: Today thru 5/14/2011 11:59:00 PM