Summer Reading

I have read some great books this summer. A few for teaching and a few for personal enjoyment. For my fellow teachers, here are some great books:

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities by Jeanne Gibbs

Teaching Outside of the Box: How to Grab Your Students by Their Brains by LouAnne Johnson {Author of the book that inspired the film Dangerous Minds}

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

So, after all of the school reading I have read I needed some light pleasure reading. My friend Reagan told me about the series by Charlaine Harris. Her books inspired the HBO series True Blood. Her first book is called "Dead After Dark." There are 10 books in this series. They are fast reads and are very addicting. They are the adult version of the Twilight series. WOW! Crazy, passionate, murder, and filled with vampires. I am usually not into fantasy but these are good!

Ahhh, reading! How I love you~

It is official!

So, I can finally blog about this~ I was hired full time at Rosedale Elementary as a first grade teacher. I have had to keep my mouth closed since the beginning of May when I was given a permanent contract with the district. Since the district {and the entire state} had to figure out money/funding/positions, etc. my principal didn't want me telling a lot of people. I felt/still feel extremely honored to have been hired in such dire times.

I am super excited to be back at the school I was at this year, work with amazing people, and learn the ins and outs of first grade. My co-teacher, JoAnn, is FABULOUS and I cannot wait for all the fun we are going to have.

When I found out and signed my contract back in May my parents and CJ sent me these beautiful bouquets.

BEEEEEEELIZE!

Please come soon. CJ and I need you to be here!

OK, enough whining but we really cannot wait to go to Belize in August! We are so looking forward to spending 12 days on the tropical shores of Belize. We are heading there to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary and to get away by ourselves. The last trip we took just the two of us to somewhere tropical was Maui in Oct. 2008! It is time to escape. We will be staying 6 days in Belize City and 6 days on the island Ambergris Caye.

Doesn't this look breathtaking? {This is Ambergris Caye}

So, people have asked "why Belize?" I answer back, "why not?" No, but really we wanted to go somewhere warm but we have done Mexico quite a few times. We went to Costa Rica for 2 weeks for our honeymoon and have always wanted to go here. CJ and I are both licensed scuba divers and they have one of the top 5 reefs for diving in the world. I also thought that since it is situated south of Mexico and East of Guatemala that it would be nice for us to have CJ there since he speaks Spanish fluently. I was surprised to find out that it is a British Colony and the majority of the natives speak English or Creole. There is some Mayan influence but it also has a lot of European and African descendants.

I am super excited to see the Mayan Ruins that date back to 600 BC. I also am looking forward to snorkeling, diving, a massage, visiting the Baboon Sanctuary {which protects over 1000 Black Howler Monkeys} and much more.

When we get back I will post the pictures and tell you of our fun journey~

Camping is a way of life!

CJ and I love to camp. We have gone on three long camping weekends since Memorial Day. We love to find new places to explore, hike, build a great campfire, and enjoy the Pacific Northwest. Rarely, and I mean rarely do we stay in a state campground because we so enjoy being out in the wilderness. We did however stay at a group site with peeps from our kickball team. We stayed on the Santiam River at Cascadia St. Park. We had such a great time! It was sooo pretty there. Yes, there were park rangers, yes there were other campers, but it was still fun. Here are a few pictures:

We hiked up to Soda Creek Falls- super pretty!

CJ on our hike

The view from inside our tent!

Our end of camp

Tate found his way on top of our bed :)

Bailey licking her lips after finding some yummy morsel.

We were lucky to have been told about the place in Prineville that I blogged about early this summer. We went there again for the 5 days over the Fourth of July. It sits on the outskirts of the Prineville Reservoir. There is no dock nearby so we had to drop our boat off at the state park and drive it in which took about 15 minutes. From the state park it takes another 15 minutes to drive on a very windy, dirty, gravel road. Once you get there though, it is heaven! It is so peaceful and quiet. Well, until we get out of the car that is! We had a great time with our friends, Emily, Reagan, Eric, and Matt. We also had our three dogs and Daisy (a 110 pound American Bulldog!)

The rocks CJ jumped off of...

Campsite

The whole gang (L-R: Matt, Eric, Reagan, Emily, Amy, CJ, and all of the dogs!)

Ems and I

CJ getting more ice~ we went through a lot of it!

The campfire provided hours of entertainment for the boys

Our boat at dusk

Visit to Boise, Idaho

Back in March my dad and I drove to Boise to visit my grandmother Jeanne. She has been ill and they moved her into a retirement community at the age of 89! Up until this winter she has remained very active in the community as a floral judge, Boise State Alum {who never misses a home game}, and hanging out with her friends. When her heart started giving her trouble she was admitted to the hospital. She was in and out a few times and we thought we were going to lose her. Thankfully she is doing much better and enjoying her new home. Here are a few special pictures to me that I thought I would share with you.

~How Time Flies~

A lot has happened in the last month and a half. Apparently, I have neglected my Blog. For this I apologize {to the few of you who actually read this!} In April I had a non-cancerous tumor removed from my upper thigh/ lower hip region. It was huge! The size of a softball. It was a pretty rough recovery, thank God for Percocet and a very compassionate husband. I thought I would be up and on my feet in a day or two. Technically I was, it was just very painful. It took me a solid 5-6 weeks to be "normal" again. Needless to say my running {which I had began to really enjoy} flew out the window. This week was my first week back. It felt good, but it was hard!

CJ and I have been intense gardeners in the last few weeks. We have totally redone our yard, beds, pathways, etc. We live on two acres and it takes a lot of time to get our front yard and backyard in presentable shape. For the last five years I have planted some flowers but we haven't spent a lot of time/money on the yard. Well, this year is different! We have a 15x20 organic vegetable and fruit garden which I am very excited about! I bought so many starts/seeds that I had to plant my lettuce, basil, cilantro, and jalapeno peppers in containers because there wasn't enough room. Ooops! We bought a "yard" {which is a dump truck full} of nice dark bark dust and have been spreading that around which makes the whole place really look amazing. To top it off my mom and I have gone to some of our favorite nurseries and have bought quite a few perennials for my beds. Al's and Smith Berry Barn didn't know what hit them when we came in :) Last Saturday my parents came out and the four of us went to the Hillsboro Farmer's Market. We bought some great plants but CJ surprised me and bought me a very nice handmade cedar potting bench. It has gotten a lot of use in its first week! I feel so excited about our yard. We definitely have a lot still to do but we are chipping away at it bit by bit. It has been so fun working with CJ on this project. He and I are really enjoying our weekend gardening time together. With the nice weather we are looking forward to having people over and barbecuing. {Pictures to come on the next post, I have to upload them!}


We spent Memorial Day weekend at the Prineville Reservoir with some great friends. My sister Emily and her boyfriend {who I really like!} were also able to make it over for the weekend. The spot we camped was awesome, but the weather was so-so. We were able to take our boat out a few times but it definitely wasn't hot like it has been in the past. The only downfall of the weekend is I got a bad sunburn on my hands. "Hands?" you ask. Well, let me tell you! If your doctor tells you that antibiotics will make your skin more sensitive to the sun you should listen. It wasn't even 9 am on Saturday morning and my hands got burnt! The rest of my skin was covered so I was fine elsewhere. I could not believe how painful my hands were. They hurt for a solid 5 days. For some reason the picture below does not show how red they were but it was the best I could get. We liked the spot so much we will be going back for the 4th of July!











CJ has also competed in two big "sporting" races. He did "Reach the Beach" which is a 104 mile bike ride from Beaverton to Pacific City. He completed it in 6 hours and 40 mins. Yes, his rear was sore afterwards but he was a trooper. He and our friend Jeff Lee trained for it together. Jeff is engaged to my sweet friend Karen! Karen and I were in Grad school together and we absolutely adore Jeff and Karen. Then last weekend CJ did an Olympic Triathlon at Blue Lake. That is a whopping 1 mile open water swim, 26 mile bike ride, 6.2 mile run. He completed it 2 hours and 45 minutes which was 15 minutes faster than he was hoping for. He also did this in the pouring rain. Portland received 1.5 inches of rain that day. It felt like a monsoon to me {yes, I was in my nice warm house while he was out competing!}







Finally, we have been busy with coed kickball, birthday parties, engagement parties, baby showers, baptisms, walking the dogs, hiking, spending time with our families, and celebrating how awesome life is everyday! We feel totally blessed and are excited for the upcoming summer season!