Adventure #32: A Week By Myself

I have been home alone this past week. Ashley and Steve went to Minnesota and Michigan for a couple weeks so I have the apartment to myself. It was really great the first day- I got some scrapbooking done and could spread my stuff all over the living room without bothering anyone. But then I got all my scrapbooking done and by about 5pm on Sunday was bored out of my mind. It was big change to go from a million miles an hour during the school year-and especially at the end with the musical- to absolutely nothing going on! You would think it would be exciting to be able to relax and have nothing to do- and it was for about 2 hours, then I was ready to be doing something again- and I had a whole week to fill up!!
It looked like a daunting task, but I managed just fine. I helped out our secretaries at school by doing some filing for them and that took up a good chunk of time. I rearranged/orgainized my desk and the closet in our guest room- it was bad! I went through my closet and donated a bunch of stuff to Salvation Army. And I did some fun things too- like laying by the pool reading and swimming with these crazy girls!
And I drove down to Tucson to visit Becca- she's been home alone too since her husband is in training in Wyoming and Nebraska for his new job as a pilot! It was great to chat with her and we went to In-N-Out Burger which is one of my favorite resturants down here!
And today I'm off on my big trip of the summer! I'm going to Philadelphia with Travis to visit his sister Tami for a few days and see the sights and then I fly back to Minnesota to spend a couple weeks with my family and catching up with friends! And when I get back my summer will be almost over-crazy! I hope you are all having a wonderful start to your summer :)

Adventure #31: How to Open 4 Cans Without a Can-opener!

Ashley and I drove down to Tucson today to visit Becca and see her apartment! We hung out by the pool and then got ready to cook dinner! Becca wanted to make Eggplant Parmesan. So we got all the stuff out for it and Ashley started cutting up onions and Becca went to start putting the sauce together and realized that the weekend before she had taken her can opener to her husband who is in Colorado training for his new job as a pilot! So we had 4 cans to open and no can-opener.

But never fear we are very resourceful women! There are plenty of other tools that can be used to open a can! We gathered up a corkscres, a knife sharpener and a meat fork and went to work!



Those cans were open in no time and we had a lovely dinner! It was great to hang out with Becca for an afternoon and a wonderful adventure to start the summer :)

Adventure #30: Summer!!!

I can hardly believe I am writing this, but I am! I finished my first year of teaching! It was a wonderful year, full of challenges, new experiences, and wonderful memories. I'm so thankful for all the opportunities I've been given this year. I never would have thought last year at this time that I would be sitting on a couch in my own apartment reflecting on my first year of teaching in Arizona. But God works in amazing ways and he brought me a job and a wonderful roommate and amazing coworkers and a great group of kids to spend a year with. I've learned so much about teaching and about myself.
Packing up my classroom was a little sad; I'm going to miss going to school everyday! I really enjoy my job; I love waking up everyday to go to school and help my students learn about their world. There are mornings when I would rather be sleeping, but seeing the joy on a student's face when they finally understand something, or when they can answer multiplcation facts makes up for all late nights and early mornings :) I'm excited to have some time off for the summer though- it will be nice to relax for a bit and go back to Minnesota to visit everyone and get out of this heat :) I'm also looking forward to having some time to relax and do something like scrapbooking and reading books, just for fun :) Plus, with how hot it is here, the pool is always a good option! Hope all of your summers are starting off well :)