Toad Friend

Since we've lived in our lovely home, we've had this toad who is like our Punxsutawney Phil- once he comes out of his winter hibernation, we know the weather is going to be consistently fairly wonderful! We call him Toad Friend. I suppose we could name him something more creative, but we're sticking with Toad Friend (there is a serious lack of originality when I name things- hence the cat of my teen years: Baby Kitty, seriously, it's kind of sad). Now unlike most amphibians, this toad is unafraid of us, we can walk right up to him and even touch him (at least I think its a him, don't know how to tell the difference) and he doesn't hop frantically away like other amphibians.

Tonight it was very windy (weird for a place called Hurricane...) so Chad went outside to put our garbage cans away. He came back in holding a handful of green goop (or so it looked like from my point of view). I asked with a bit of disgust, "Honey, what are you holding?" He turned his hand so I could see it and it was TOAD FRIEND! He was just hanging out in Chad's hand, chillin'. He had been hiding behind the car and Chad almost ran over him with the garbage cans (SAD), so Chad picked him up and brought him in. I was SO happy to see our Toad Friend! Well, we were worried that he would warm up too much from being in Chad's hand and being in the house, so Chad put him back outside. Imagine, if you will, the scene in Lord of the Rings where Bilbo is leaving the ring for Frodo. The ring doesn't want to leave Bilbo's hand and it is sticking to it as it slides slowly down to the floor. That is what it was like for Chad to get Toad Friend off his hand. We watched him for a minute and felt extremely guilty as he watched us close the door. About 20 minutes later we wanted to see if he had gone to eat some of the crickets or if he had hopped off. Chad opened the door and I couldn't see him, so I thought he had gone, but Chad made this sad noise and I looked down- Toad Friend had hopped up to the door and was sitting at our door- like a dog or cat would if they wanted to come inside. OH MY GOSH, we felt SO BAD putting the dang toad outside! Its a toad, it lives outside, but we felt so sad that we couldn't bring him inside mostly because we didn't want to find a toad (especially Toad Friend) dead in the morning from overheating or something... We decided we need a toad door, if only it wouldn't act as a scorpion door or spider door too.

There's the story of the evening. And a picture of Toad Friend. The end.

Long time?

It feels like a long time since I posted las, but it really hasn't been long AT ALL- it just seems like it. We are 20 days away from the last day of school... and EVERYONE can feel it. There isn't a teacher in the district who doesn't want school to end...I'd put a quarter on it!

What that means for Bethany in Special Education is: NO prep time and lots of headache. We are right smack in the middle of State End of Level testing which means that we pull out each kid who recieves Special Edcuation services to either test them in a smaller setting, read the test (or allowed parts) to the students, or both. Luckily we have great Paras who help out a ton, but most of the testing falls on us as the teachers. This time of year is also transition time, meaning we have to get our files ready to send to the next school. Luckily for me, I can fix a lot of the files next year at the IEP meetings I hold for the students I keep on my caseload when I move to the High School. This year for some reason as well, we've had a lot of 8th graders qualify for Special Ed services, so we're STILL holding IEPs, which for me is EXTREMELY frustrating because I was done with all but 3 of mine by the end of 1st semester. And on top of it, I still teach, believe it or not. So I come home pretty exhausted everyday. Anyway, I'm ready for my break. Love my job more than words can describe and I'm SUPER grateful to have what job security I have, but I'm definitely ready for the break.

What this means for Chad in Band is: REHERSALS and pass-offs. Chad's last concert of the year is coming up, so its crunch time for him. He spends long hours before and after school getting music finalized and making sure kids know their music during after school sectionals. He is so good with the Intermediate School kids; they would be crying right now if I were their teacher! He is busy arranging for the concert and what to do afterward. He is also playing in Forever Plaid with some locals here in Hurricane, so we haven't seen much of each other the past week or so.

We are SO looking forward to having a two week break! Yes, just two weeks, give or take. Chad has decided to work for the Utah Shakespearean Festival this year again. His rehersals start June 15, so we actually get some time off between the end of school and the start of his summer job. The first in our whole marriage! Usually rehersals start before school is out, so we don't really get a break. I will have a week off and then have an early June Math workshop to attend. Then I have NOTHING until July 12 when I start teaching summer school. I hope I welcome the work rather than resent it! I'll be working Monday-Thursday from 9-3:30 for 2 weeks and then Monday-Wednesday from 9-3:30 of the third week. Meanwhile, we plan on making sure everything is set for September so that when school starts in August, we aren't going crazy trying to get everything figured out at the last minute.

We have enjoyed the beautiful weather of Hurricane, including the wind because we've been able to get outside and fly our kites! Hopefully, the weather will be nice enough that we can take some morning hikes in the next couple of weeks and first weeks of summer before I'm too pregnant to go!

A Scrapbook Update

I've decided to post the scrapbook page with pictures of camping and our little guy and a little info about both of them. I've decided to hold off on posting the other pages until the end of the year though.
We are really enjoying life and watching our little guy grow.
March weekends were all spent out of town- two on Spring Break, one in SLC for a wedding, and one in SLC for a birthday party! We were also able to spend Easter with family in SLC.
We were just able to have Mandi, Alex, and Darek down for the Annual Kite Festival in St. George! It was a lovely weekend and the weather was fantastic!!!
I was offered a job teaching at Hurricane High School in February and decided to take it. I am very excited about the new job and having the new experiences with the older students! I will also be teaching summer school for two weeks in July.
Chad will be staying at Hurricane Intermediate with roughly the same schedule as this year. He has decided to accept a percussion job for the summer for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I am quite relieved- I was worried about him working though October with our little boy being due in September.
We are 5 weeks away from being done with the school year! We are both looking forward to having the time off to relax and get ready for little bebe.
We are loving life, things really couldn't be much better!!

And now for the pictures!
Click on the scrapbook pages to get a closer look at the pictures and details about camping and Gryn.

Lucky me

I don't have to post the story of telling the gender of my baby- my sister did a great job of doing it, so if you'd like to know and read about it, click here :)

Teaching

I've come to understand that of all the jobs in the world to pick, Teaching is just not one of those "9-to-5" jobs. I dream of going home at contract time, grocery shopping on "easy days" or during reasonable hours, hiking Zion after work, or just reading in the evening.
Most of the time however, I do not come home at contract time, in fact when I do eventually get home, I usually bring something with me from school to get done (however in the past three years, I have gotten MUCH better at leaving work at school). By the time I leave the school, I am so utterly spent, the idea of hiking almost gives me a heart-attack, reading usually puts me to sleep, and I can't think of being in a grocery store for fear that I'll snap!
While this may seem like a complaint, I really love my job. I can't imagine what it would be like to sit and read or go hike or even come home "on time." I especially can't imagine what it would be like to NOT work. I would be SO empty.
So on this day when contract time ended 50 minutes ago, I am still at work, blogging, so I don't have to work.... for a few minutes anyway. I think I'll go home and do laundry, then scrapbook for March and do another post. That'll be my fill for the week!

Its almost April :)

For those of you wondering about that last post, that was the way we announced to our families (and friends) that there will be a child joining Chad and me in September, provided everything goes "as planned." I put that in quotations, because we all know how plans go...
As for the month of March, Chad and I were able to take a road trip for Spring Break this year. We decided that we'd love to drive to LA and up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco and camp along the way. We figured this would be the last time we'd want to do it without an RV for a while, so we packed up our tent and camping gear and set off. It was extraordinarily relaxing falling asleep and waking to the sound of the ocean each night and morning. We had a wonderful time together!
A few "highlights" of the trip were:
- Flying our kite on the beach!
- Having a picnic breakfast on the beach!
- Being the entertainment for the whole campsite when a raccoon decided to go grocery shopping in our ice chest (it stole the ENTIRE carton of 18 eggs- luckily it dropped them but did manage to steal one out of the carton and take off)
- Not knowing where we were going to stay each night. We would just find a beach, pay the fee and camp. It was great!
- Stopping every 5 minutes because each part of the coast was more beautiful than the next or there was something amazing to see (like a bunch of elephant seals sunning on the beach).
- Learning that the child inside me doesn't like curvy roads after eating (I know it was the kiddo because I don't get motion sickness- EVER).
- Spending so much time with my husband.
- Having Chad participate in some of the things my family did when I was young.
- Reading aloud to each other on the way home.

That kind of sums up my feelings about the trip- it was wonderful!
Our March will continue to be busy, we have been gone every weekend so far this month: two for spring break, one for a Wedding reception, and one more for a birthday party. Everyone will be sure to think we're inactive in our ward...

April brings us Easter in Hurricane again! Also, my cousin and a roommate will be coming to visit! Then we have the Annual Kite Festival! We are SO excited! Oh, and we'll probably find out what kind of bun we're cooking- blue or pink.

I have already made scrapbook pages for January and February which will give an idea of what life was like for those few months since I dropped off the planet. I'll make my March one and then post all three together and hopefully I'll find time to create one or two for the road trip with pictures... we'll see how much time I can set aside! And I'll post the newest picture of the bun- we got to see it again yesterday!

Huh?