Spring Break

For Spring Break (well I made it Spring Break cause my school only gave us a Friday and Monday off) I finally got to go to the Grand Canyon....cause I have been everywhere down that way like Moab, Zion, etc. but never made it to the GC. It was a really good trip but lots of traveling and lots to see. First we drove from my house Frazer, MT to Billings and stayed the night. Then went to from Billings to Denver to stay with Bevin's family. That was super fun and I was excited to see Carter and Avery. We went to eat and I got the best club sandwhich ever....at the Grand Lux and the next day we went to the Denver Aquarium. Then from Dever to Vegas where Jim picked up his car he bought for the trip and we stayed in Vegas for one night. Then from Vegas to the West Grand Canyon where they have the Sky Walk and then drove and stayed in Kingman, AZ. Then the next day drove to the South Rim where we stayed overnight. Then the next day from South Rim to Navajo National Monument to Page, AZ where we stayed overnight. And the next day drove all the way from the very bottom of Utah to Logan with a stop at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes close to Kanab, UT (which I never knew existed but glad I got to see it because it was amazing!) Lots of driving but still more to come....stayed a couple of days in Logan and then back to Frazer, MT where we stayed in Idaho Falls one night to break up the drive. Boy oh boy am I sick of driving.....and I still have plenty to do this summer....and in two weeks I am driving to see Tarene in Saskatoon...which is a 7 hour drive. I will tell you this....I would much rather drive than deal with airport bull crap.....COME ON....I cannot only pack one carry on and purse.....and really charge me like $30 to check a bag in that cannot be over 50lbs.....THAT IS UNHEARD OF!!!! Damn airlines.....I remember the days when you could check in two suitcases for FREE!!! I miss those days. Anyway below are some pictures of the GC road trip.....more to come cause I will be soon be on the road again! This is the Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park in Utah. Grand Canyon.....on the eastern side.

Grand Canyon on the eastern side of the South Rim.

Another eastern side of the GC which I have a lot of pictures of but that is cause we had the whole day for the east side.....the sun was out the whole time.

Me and Jim.

Thinking about going on the Sky Walk.....looks scary and it was!

Sunset at the South Rim, picture taken on the east side of the sky.

Sunset at the South Rim, picture taken on the west side of the sky.

The South Rim.

Grand Canyon Cavern....a big cave that was really cool to go through. It is perfect temperature all year....a crisp 56 everyday.

The pups on the drive from Utah to Montana. Idaho Falls....it was sooooo windy and cold.....I miss the Grand Canyon temps.

Idaho Falls.

Somewhere in Idaho where we stopped to let the pups out.

4 more months!

I have only 4 more months of teaching left and I have all summer off to travel around....I cannot wait. It is going to be a jam packed summer. Start June 5 - drive from Montana to Utah...spend a week in Logan (I am a homesick but a week home will cure that :) Then me and Morgan are driving to Los Angeles and to hang out with Trisha and Taylor. June 19 is the Mexico Cruise with the whole damn family...this time it better not get canceled. After cruise spend another week in LA to see the concert U2, Lenny Kravitz, New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys (yesssss) Then drive back to Logan and stay a couple days, then drive to Rock Springs and hang out with friends and I have a wedding to go...stay for a week or two. Then drive back to Logan stay for a couple of days then off to Boise for a couple of weeks to hang out with friends and go boating and stuff. After Boise a couple of weeks I will be heading back to Montana and stay a day at my house to check in on things and then off to the annual Canada, Saskatoon trip with Tarene. Stay in Canada for a couple of weeks and then have to come back to work the end of August. I am 95% sure I will come back here to teach another year (the 5% is if I win the lottery :) Below are pictures of where I live when it was -45.....it is freakin cold but it was a really pretty sunset.

This is what -45 looks like....holy crap you can't even breath out in this.

Me and the art teacher ice skating. She has a monthly weekend day where she takes the kids from the school who want to go iceskating. They have a really nice ice skating rink in Glasgow which is 30 miles from where I live.

Living in Montana

I have now been settled in Montana for almost a month and I actually like it. I love my job...it is 100% better than teaching in Rock Springs....and I have met some nice people and made some good friends.

This is a picture of Fort Peck Lake....it is huge and is only like 20 min away from where I live.
Another picture of the Lake.

This is pretty much what it looks like up here.....lots of open spaces and farmland. It is different from the Mountains that I am used to but I am kind of liking it.

This is my classroom....a view from where I sit to run the computer and smart board. The kids sit along the walls at a computer.

My friend Caitlin (English Teacher) the one with the flowers around her neck threw a Cap and Gown party at her house. I thought that was a fun theme and I could not believe I still had my cap and gown from getting my Masters.

I even got flowers from a certain someone.

This is the certain someone....I will tell about him another time :-)

Tarene came and stayed with me a night because she was driving back to Saskatoon from Utah. It is awesome that we live close enough to visit each other now. The guy is the Social Studies teacher and football coach. I had a teachers dinner that night and Tarene tagged along. It was a super fun night and later that night we went out and some Native Americans gave us our Indian Names....I am Cherry Woman and she is Wise One????? Don't ask me how that came about?

Pinedale and Yellowstone

For fathers day dad, mom, Greg Jr. (he was sick) and Morgan met me at Bevin and Sara's house in Pinedale. Then after fathers day weekend, me, Morgan, Sara, Bevin, Carter, and Avery took a trip to Yellowstone. Lets just say I could use a long break break before I see Bevin's family again......no really it was great fun and there were no big fights that happened with anyone.......I just did not get any sleep :-) It was super fun and we got some good pictures.

This picture is at the top of a mountain where there is a great view of the Wind River Range.


We took a drive to get to a lake but the road was closed for tree removal so this is as close as we got. It has now been two times Bevin has tried to get me and Sara to this lake and each time our plans get foiled...first time it was a blizzard and then this time???? Truman for sure!!!

On our walk home from the park.

We all took a walk.....we walked to the post office, then the library, then had lunch at the park, and then jogged all the way back home.

At the Pinedale park.

Morgan and Carter playing at the park.

Leaving for our walk/jog.

Just got to Jackson....the start of our Yellowstone adventure.

All the Cox cousins....oh wait Will is missing.

Last day of our trip back from Yellowstone at the Cody dam...no one else wanted pictures so me and Sara just jumped out to get one.

This is at the Dragons Hot Pot....the smoke and the sound it makes sounds like a dragon.

The whole gang at my favorite place inside Yellowstone - Artists Point.

The falls we saw right before we saw our first grizzly bear.

This was my favorite place of the whole trip.....Mesa Falls in Idaho. We had to drive an hour out of the way but it was sure worth it. If you ever get a chance to get to Mesa falls you should for sure go and see it.

If I don't name a picture it is because I don't remember what the places were called. Sara has the book that names them. She was the smart one who ordered a book that shows all the places to see in Yellowstone and the surrounding areas.

Moose falls....one of my favorites because you could swim in the pool below the falls. People were swimming when we got there. We did not want to swim because we just got on the road for our trip and I am sure the water was freezing.

Entering Grand Teton National Park. The lady taking the picture sure did not know how to get things centered???