No more heat, please

It has been a miserable week. No, it wasn't the kids. It was the heat. I know that I complain about this all the time but I just don't understand how 91 plus degrees in a classroom is even HUMANE and it is definitely not an acceptable learning environment. I won't even whine about my classes of 40 or more with only 36 desks. The heat is literally killing us. And then the big question is...why don't we start after Labor Day??? Still trying to figure that one out. For the sake of our sanity and our health, give me air conditioning or start after Labor Day....how about both!?!?!?

Get ready Philippines...Elder Stokes is here!

I had several thoughts when I saw this pictures. 1- what are they doing? 2- how common are machetes in the Philippines and 3- Nate looks like a ninja!

It must be SO hot there! You can just see the sweat on them
My good friend from my ward sent me these. It's funny that our brothers are now serving together. He is doing really well and just loves his mission. Thanks everyone for all the prayers for the missionaries throughout the world!!!

Squirlly Sophomores and Seniors with Senioritis

Happy First week of school to all educators out there!!! Crazy how fast summer flies by. 2 days down and 178 to go!!! I'm not really counting, it gets way to complicated!! But, it was a great first 2 days. Huge classes and right now I am currently on strike with the counseling center! Adding 8 kids to my already 44 world history class. Yea, not cool!!! But, I may have just been mean enough to scare those squirlly little sophomores!

Summer 2010 Highlights

Ok, that picture is weird!!! Just a few of my thoughts before I embark on another school year adventure (and other adventures too!) So...here they go. I finished my third year of teaching at Hunter High School.
Turned 28! Spent a wonderful day in Park City with Tyler. Then the next day drove 7 hours to Bozeman, Montana where I surprised my sister with the best surprise ever! And, met my first niece, Brooklyn Ann Young!
Spent lots of time with this wonderful guy!!! Almost everyday and they all were perfect! Went to a movie on the Capitol Lawn, Water Parks, hikes, family reunions and ten year class reunions. Picnics, walks, long talks and many other great moments!
Traveled to Salmon, Idaho for Brooklyn's blessing. It was fun for Tyler to meet a lot more people and also spend some great time with both of our families. (I love the fact that Blackfoot and Salmon are pretty close)
Spent some good time with Brooklyn
Ran another 10K with my friend Rayne. I was so proud of us, we did it in 59 minutes and for my age group, I came in 127th out of 250 (or something like that). Considering a few years ago, I hated running and now I love it, this is pretty good. Our next goal...A Half Marathon!
Went to San Diego for work. Went to the Zoo, Sea World, a Padres/Dodgers game, a play and Old Town. Got stuck in Vegas for almost 2 hours because of a freak storm in Denver and we had to wait for some "unaccompanied minors" Oh the luck of being the last flight to Salt Lake City.
Went to Virginia City, Montana with my family. So fun to be with them. Along with Virginia City, we floated the river, watched Harry Potter and moved lots of sprinkler pipe!
So all in all, it has been a wonderful summer. A fun and memorable one. I am looking forward to a new school year but will miss the fun times of summer. But, ready or not bring on 2010-2011 school year!

The best vacation ever!

After a crazy delay from San Diego, I had a wonderful reunion with Tyler and we headed to Blackfoot that night. We arrived at 4am and were exhausted. But we had a great time with his family. His family always jokes about this family vacation they took to Virginia City, Montana. It's just this podunk little historic town. They hated it but I always tell Tyler's dad that I will go with him! After 4 days in Blackfoot, I said goodbye to Tyler (again) and went to Salmon to visit my family for a week. It actually worked out great because Tyler was super busy with work. It was a great visit with my family and we had lots of fun. Watching almost all the Harry Potter movies, floating the river and ....going to Virigina City, Montana!!!
We were really sad that Emily, Seth and Brooklyn couldn't come to Salmon and see us so we met them in Virginia City. We had a nice barbeque and ate some good ice cream. It was fun to be with my family but Virginia City is....Virginia City!!!
This was the funniest thing I have ever seen! The bathrooms in this museum had two toilets and no stalls. It was so funny! We all got a good laugh. But the big question, why???





We had fun riding the merry go round.

I love so much to see Brooklyn. She is getting so big and is so stinking cute! She is smiling a lot and even giggles sometimes!

Too bad, all vacations come to an end. I rode the shuttle back to Salt Lake. And even though my ipod died, my phone died and our driver had road rage, it was not that bad! But, the end of vacation means...back to school!!!

I love work trips to California

I was able to go to San Diego for a few days for work and it was great. We had a good time and enjoyed some classes and then...we played!!! We spent a day at the zoo and a day at Sea World.
That is Shamu (maybe Shamu the 12th). It took us 5 times to get that picture!
We went to a Padres and Dodgers baseball game. Yes, those are Nachos and yes, that was my dinner!
I love Old Town. It is so fun. The shops are so fun and they have the best Mexican resturaunts ever! These are some delicious fish tacos and I was waiting all week for them!

We took a river cruise and it was freezing but it was fun. It was so cold there and I was not quite ready for it. But it was a good trip and enjoyed it!

Just so you know....

I'm okay everyone! All you faithful followers of my blog (yes, not many but still...) I'm okay! I spent about a week in San Diego for a conference for work (stay tuned) and immedietly after landing, Tyler picked me up from the airport and we drove to Blackfoot, arriving at 4am thanks to flying troubles, and spent some wonderful days there with the Hansen family. I then said goodbye to Tyler, again, and headed to Salmon to spend a week with my family before school starts again.

So, a quick recap and will eventually put some pictures up after my 2 1/2 wonderful weeks of living out of a suitcase!!!