Spending Time...

I have been spending my time in a variety of ways lately. This last weekend I got to spend time with some crazy siblings! My brother Bryce who currently resides in China was home for the weekend. We all got together and spent about four days with each other. It was by far the most fun I have had in a while. I love getting together with all of my siblings. We even took a family photo!

The day before Memorial Day my brother Coby brought his suburban over to my parents house so we could all pile in like we used to and drive over to our grandma's grave. Maybe that sounds morbid, but it wasn't at all. I was really surprised that we made it into the car. We did scrape coming out of the driveway. It would seem that we have collectively gained a 'little' weight since we were younger. The in-laws and grandkids followed us over. We spent most of the trip letting all of the nostalgia wash over us. It was such a treat to be in such close quarters again with the people I love the most.

Here are Bryce and Tyler in their usual spots in the suburban!

Coby, Brennan and I still fit in the back seat. (barely)
We actually went to our grandma's old house, got out and looked around. We weren't sure if anyone lived there or not, but then again we didn't really care at the time. The place smelled the same and it flooded our minds with memories. I miss that house.

I also got to spend some quality time being an aunt. I think that role is by far my favorite in life. It is so much fun to get with my nieces and nephews and play. They are such a fun bunch. With the most recent addition of Livia, I now have nine nieces and nephews! Here is Livia, she is such a sweet, sweet baby.

Ander is always ready to pose for the camera.

I have also been spending some of my time preparing for some changes next year. I will be teaching Physical Education next year, along with one English class. I am excited to write my own curriculum for Phys Ed and shake things up a little bit. In conjunction with this shift of duties, I have to get my commercial driver's license, or CDL, so that I can drive the school bus to the areas throughout the community where we hold our classes. I am excited for this new adventure. Although, I am weighing my options with other schools here...we'll see how that goes though.

I will finish out the school year in one week, have one week off, and then teach summer school for three weeks. It was either teacher summer school or get another job, which I still might do. I think I will be bored out of my mind this summer. Hopefully I have the chance to visit many relatives... ( :

I have also been spending some time with this beauty. I haven't had much of an opportunity to ride it yet because there were some title mishaps that needed to be cleared up. The only riding I was getting in were night-time residential rides (you can't tell that the bike lacks a license plate in the dark) over the past two weeks. Fortunately though I have some fairly rural roads around me that I have found. This past week I opened it up to about 70 mph and experienced a new thrill in life. I love this beast and can't wait to finally ride legally! ( : Until then I'll be putting around in the shadows.

A Good Laugh

Every now and again my students provide me with a great laugh. I got a good one today. For one of their assignments, my students are supposed to learn about the influential speeches of both Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. They can then write their own influential speech about a controversial topic. As I started reading one of the speeches that a student turned in I found myself reading about how offensive it was to him when people wear their pants low and let their underwear, or what is under their underwear, hang out all over the place. It was an extremely passionate speech, but I just had to laugh because I'm sure this student was in a bit of a hurry to finish all of his assignments. He thought the topic was human clothing, when it was really supposed to be human cloning. I didn't even tell him about his mistake. Who knew that human clothing was so controversial? ( :

Last Weekend

This past weekend my cousin Brian got married up in Eureka, CA. I decided to go to the wedding with a bunch of my aunts and one of my uncles. It was quite the trip! The marriage was performed by Marian's mom in the church she grew up in. Eureka is a cool place! Here is a picture of my cousins Tom and Brian, Brian's daughter Shelby and his new wife Marian. They had a great time celebrating!

As we drove to and from Eureka we went through the Redwood Forest. It was awesome to see trees that are so big and old. For those of you who don't know, I am a huge tree lover. The Redwoods were a-m-a-z-i-n-g! I loved it there and I could have stayed and explored for days. Unfortunately we only had about four hours total.

These are my amazing aunts! They are so much fun to listen to and laugh with. I learned a lot from them about my grandparents and my dad. My uncle is in the backgroud, he doesn't necessarily like his picture being taken, but he walked into this one.

Here is the Founder Tree. It was gigantic! This is the best picture because I told them to see if they could wrap around this redwood. They did it first with their backs turned to me, then I had them turn around, then I told them to look up. It was just like a game of 'Simon-Says.' I should have had them stand on one foot next while they touched their noses...

This made the trip complete. Yes, this is me licking a slug. I wanted to get proof that I had actually done it! A few weeks back one of my cousins informed me about the "Banana Slug Gang" and was shocked that I wasn't a member. To become a member I had to find a banana slug and lick it. It wasn't that bad! After licking the banana slug my tongue was supposed to go numb, but nothing ever happened...I was completely disappointed!