Oh, What Do I Do in the Summertime?

One of the reasons I decided to become a teacher was to have my summers off. However, in my 7 years of teaching I have taught summer school most of those years. I have not taught the last 2 summers though which has been wonderful. I could definitely benefit from the extra money but I opted for keeping my sanity instead. Because of that decision many people, mainly fellow teachers, have asked me, "What on earth are you going to do with all your time if you're not working?" I respond with, "Anything I want!" which for me, really is the whole beauty part of being a teacher and having summers off. For many teachers, teaching is their life but for me it is my job and I have other interests and activities I enjoy and that fill my time. I want to make it clear that I LOVE the children I work with but I'll be honest, if I won a million bucks I would quit teaching in a heartbeat!


Anyway having summers off allows me more time to travel (finances permitting), spend time with family and friends, scrapbook, enjoy nature, finally get to my "books I want to read" list, exercise (yes, I know I should do this year round and no, I haven't done so well this summer), take classes and just in general have fun and do things I don't get much of a chance to do during the school year.


This summer in my ongoing quest for a lane change*, I have taken several classes to earn credit towards that goal. I took a beginning and intermediate guitar class which I absolutely loved. It was taught by Michael Christianson from Utah State University (Go Aggies!). I took a guitar class from him about 20 years ago when I was at USU. He's an incredible guitarist and it didn't even bother me when he'd name drop and say things like, "When I played with the Eagles..." or "Eric Clapton once told me..." (wait a minute, am I name dropping???) Anyway, I can play a mean version of "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain" and I will hopefully continue practicing and be able to add to my repertoire.


I also took a photo editing class and a math & technology class. Since I am not very computer savvy I learned a lot of new stuff. Towards the end of each class my brain started to shutdown from information overload but at least I now know some basics and will be more willing to play around with the different programs and learn even more.

In the photo editing class we were given a "blemish" assignment. We went to an acne medication website, found before and after pictures and we edited the before pictures (with zits) to look as good as the after pictures (w/o zits). After completing this assignment I really don't believe any of those before/after pictures or for that matter, any of the supermodel pictures in all their airbrushed glory. I never trusted them before but now I really don't! If computer unsavvy ME can make a before picture blemish free then I can't trust anything the professionals do.

The math/tech class was great not only for the vast knowledge I gained but because they gave us all free digital cameras. I only paid a $15 registration fee for the class so I'd say that's a pretty sweet deal.

Oh, sweet summer! You're coming to an end far too quickly.

*lane change - after earning a certain number of credits a teacher can move up lanes and each lane represents a pay raise. Yeah!

Fun with the Young Women

Since I spend quite a bit of time in my church calling with the young women in my ward I thought I would post a few pics of some of our recent activities. I love working with this great group of girls and the other incredible leaders.

This first group of pictures is from YW camp at MIA Shalom at the beginning of June. It was so cold (notice the snow in some of the photos) but we still managed to have a great time.

Ice skatinig with the Mia Maids and Laurels.

Hiking to Stewart Falls. It was my first time there and I loved it!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

So I had a great time visiting Sheena, Eric and Maryn in Texas last week. Since they just moved into their new home (which is beautiful) I was able to help Sheena with the daunting task of unpacking and organizing. We also did a lot of shopping--actually Sheena shopped and I was just along to offer my support and opinions. At any rate we had fun. I was there for the 4th of July and we had fun going to their ward breakfast and then to the lake for some jet-skiing and swimming. The highlight of the lake trip was me stepping on a fish hook and proceeding to bleed all over the jet ski. It took several days before I could walk without limping but don't worry--I'm fine! After the trip to the lake we went to Eric's parents home for a BBQ, more swimming, and to watch the fireworks. It was really fun to watch Maryn play and jump in the pool, she absolutely LOVES the water and has no fear of it. She had fun playing with her cousins and I had fun trying to capture it all on film so Grandma and Grandpa Ellinger could see all the pictures. I'm posting just a few of the pics I took while in Texas, some of our activities and just a couple of Sheena's new house. I'll let her post most of the pictures of her new house.

Maryn riding the "ee-haw" at IKEA. When Maryn got on this rocking horse I said "yee-haw!" because isn't that what all children raised in Texas should learn to say? Well Sheena bought it for Maryn and from that time on Maryn called it her "ee-haw".