Pioneer Day, OBSESSION, and Adventure, a catch up post :)

So, Pioneer day was awesome, I love this part of living in Utah, people get the day off of work, there are parades, fireworks, B-B-Q's and everything! I remember when I was little having a ward potluck at a park I don't remember the name to, but I know that I dressed up like a pioneer and also dressed up my baby doll like a pioneer, and we walked around a tennis court cement slab singing "Pioneer children sand as they walked and walked and walked and walked etc..." Those were the days! Well this year Kristen and Amy and I took the Kids to Salem Pond, a small pondish-lake place where theres a small sandy beach. We decided we didn't care as much about the parade, and thought we could be the crowds to the pond. It was beautiful, and we had the first hour or so to ourselves. Plus I think that when I try to look on the bright side of being without John for a year, I am reminded that I get to spend time with family, becoming so close to all the kids, I am by far the FAVORITE aunt...y9ou can even ask them. I think Steph might come close if she were here but she's not so...I win! Anyway, the kids are THE BEST! Plus, Amy and Kristen are totally my best friends, I really lucked out with the sisters in law! And it's also really heart warming to be so close to my big brothers, they take really good care of me, and it's so fun to watch them be dads!

Ruthie and Kaci making a "cake" :)

Everybody loves a pb&j!

Me and Tootle Bug

Enjoying the fireworks show in the street:)

Also, I been on a scrapbooking frenzie! I even dream about scrapbooking! Kristen and I spread out all of our stuff all over the kitchen and get to work. Sometimes we watch shows or movies while we scrapbook, and sometimes we sing...yeah it's kind of hilarious, we just try to make eachother laugh really hard. Anyway, I have easily multiplied my supply by 2 in the last week...the good news is, I'm not just wasting money, because I'm using everything and making beautiful memories! So in Spanish Fork I discovered my favorite scrappin store, and they had a sidewalk sale this week...AWESOME right? Well yeah awesome yes but not so awesome that I found myself there spending too much money 3 times this week! Yowza...

All of our beautiful findings!
Don't tell...we sorta have a lot of stuff...SO much stuff, so many pictures, sooo much fun, so little time...where do we start???

So yesterday (saturday) I went with Ben and Kristen to Salt lake to look at a car they wanted to purchase...while we were in Salt Lake, their Dodge Intrepid broke down, so we pulled into a mcDonalds parking lot and when we lifted the hood, there was tons of smoke and green liquid (anti-freeze) all over the engine and everything. Meanwhile we are supposed to be meeting a guy who happens to be foreigner about 10 minutes away from where we had broken down. So the guy comes to pick up Ben to go look at the car, and Kristen and I are left with the kids at McDonalds. SO we eat some lunch and start talking about the car problem, a guy inside McDonalds hears us and offers to help....turns out he didn't know much. But soon after he left a guy in a swanky black Limousine pulls over and offers to help, and he was a big help and had some suggestions. He was very friendly, and as he was leaving I asked if we could look around in his limo...oh man Dylan and Kaci loved it! The guy even gave them a soda...can you imagin being a 5 or 7 year old and getting to be inside a limo? Well they loved it! So then we knew what we had to do, get to an auto parts store...but we had no mode of transportation, it was 105 degrees outside and the closest place that had the stuff we needed was a few miles away, not an option to walk, especially not with Dylan and Kaci...so we convinced a guy who worked at the McDonalds to give us a ride. When we said we were going with him and to get in the car, Dylan said WHAT? WE"RE RIDING WITH A STRANGER??? NO WAY!
Anyway, we got there and back with the tools and stuff we needed, we fixed the problem, yes that's right, I cleaned out a car part, and quick-steeled it back together...so tough! So then the car was fixed-ish and we just had to wait for Ben...by now it had been 2 1/2 hours waiting. so we went inside the McDonalds to wait. BORING! Luckily I always keep a deck of cards in my purse and we played go fish for like an hour, and then I fell asleep on the table, and then we went outside to find a nice shade tree to wait...and wait...and wait some more for a total of 51/2 hours at the McDonalds....that's a LOOOOONG time folks! I would not recommend it. On the bright side though Ben did get the car, it;s a '99 honda civic, green with a totally insane ghetto spoiler on the back! Also, it was really cool to see how many people come out of the woodwork in a situation like this to help you out. It's a comforting feeling to know that people are good. People are amazing, and we were blessed with some awesome new friends:)

This is the part that BUSTED...it exploded antifreeze all over the place!

This is yours truly FIXING the busted part with quick steel....I am so tough!
Playing Go fish at McDonald's

Drinking my THIRD Extra Large Light Lemonade of the day...my favorite summertime refresher!
Underneath our shade tree...we were so bored going on hour 4, we took some GLAMOR shots...yeah we were REALLY bored!

And finally, this sweet little coupe...Ben named it Arturo, after the Mexican guy who sold it to him, they became pretty good friends despite the language barrier , but who could blame them, I mean they did spend all day together! **Notice the wicked sweet spoiler and tail lights, also the lettering on the back reads: "Insane Clown Posse"...that kinds of says it all!

What does it mean to be an American?

Task 507.2.3-04-06, 13-15 Courtenay Lance

Multimedia link for TDT1

Friends and family, ignore this post it is for my Masters Class :)

Monterey

I've been spending time with Johns Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins in Gilroy California. It's awesome. Playing games, eating good food, playing at the beach, and best of all shopping!!! I'm having so much fun, On Saturday I went to San Francisco and saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and the whole time I was thinking about that scene at the beginning of Full House where they're riding in the covertible with Uncle Jessie and Joey and baby Michelle in the back seat...ahh the memories! Remember ...

What ever happened to predictibility?

The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV.

Everywhere you look , everywhere you go (there's a heart).
There's a heart
A hand to hold onto.

Everywhere you look , everywhere you go.
There's a face
Of somebody who needs you.

Everywhere you look,
When you're lost out there and you're all alone,
A light is waiting to carry you home,
Everywhere you look.
Everywhere you look.

Oh man, I love it. And you'll never believe what I saw there! DOLPHINS!!! Yeah, real wild Dolphins! And Jelly fish! It was so amazing! And we went to Ghiradelli square and bought jewelry from some street vendors. We also went to China Town where we learned some cool oragami from a little chinese girl. It was pretty cool!

We also went to Monterey where we played on the beach, explored all the shops on the wharf, had some seafood, and among other things we found a brittish looking telephone booth and tried to see how many people we could fit into it!!! We fit 8 adults...I think we could have fit a few little kids in too if they were around. Also we took a tour of the bay in a glass bottom boat...it sounded pretty cool, but it the glass bottom part was LAME, we did get really close to some playful sea otters and seals though, it was pretty cool.

The thingt about being here with John's family is that I just miss John more! He's doing pretty good though, he's finally venturing out with his team on some missions. He says that the landscape is similar to Utah, and parts of Oregon, he says west of Jalalabad is heavily wooded, and east of Jalalabad is like southern Utah, minus the red rock...but ti is really rocky and dusty. He says it's getting up to 110 degrees, and will only get hotter....yuck! It's also pretty humid! But he says thanks for everyone's prayers!

That's all for now, I've got more adventures tomorrow...













These funny sea lions were basking on a rock, but when the tide came in, the didn't want to get wet, pretty funny!

Picture This...

Okay so today at first recess my Principal comes into my room and asks if she can speak with
me...and I think oh crap, what did I do...I have a great relationship with my principal, but it was a funny feeling and I really felt like I was in trouble! So I follow her into her office, she shuts the doors, and asks "So tell me about your life, how are you?" Okay not a weird question, but weird if she brought me to her office just for this. SO I'm getting more and more nervous because she's not getting to the point, seriously we talked for like 20 minutes, and in the meantime the recess bell rings and I try to get away to pick up my class but she keeps talking! About nothing! But she's the principal, so I talk too. Finally she says lets go back into your room...we walk back and I am feeling as awkward as all get out...The door is closed and the room is dark, I open the door, and find all of my students and all of their parents screaming SURPRISE! Now, you know me, I start to cry right away as I look around, and see a huge sign saying "Mrs. Lance Thank You We Love you, We will miss you, Good luck, love your 2008 students and parents!"
Then my little Nathan takes my arm, and escorts me down a red carpet (Okay it was red butcher paper, but it was scattered with rose petals and it might as well have been the red carpet to the grammies or oscars or something!) and at the end is my big office chair with balloons. Then one of the dads gets everyone's attention and 2 girls come up and give me a sash that says "worlds greatest teacher"...you know just like the Prom Queen or Miss America! Then a little girl comes and crowns me with a real princess crown, super fancy cute. And you know I'm still crying...and then one by one, each student walks down the red carpet, and hands me a red rose, and gives me a huge hug...I'm absolutely weeping, and so are most of my students and all of the parents. Then the Dad that was there said some amazing things to me, and he was crying, and then he said if anyone wants to say anything go ahead...so parents were saying the kindest things, through lots of tears and smiles, and then my students started saying the sweetest kindest things that just melt my heart and make me proud to be a teacher. Then I said some things like what a blessing this class has been for me because they were there with me to celebrate my marriage to John, and then I told them that even though having John gone is the hardest thing in my life, that I knew I would be okay because I had them to come to everyday. They love me unconditionally, and of course I love them without limits or reservations. I am so blessed. So then there were treats of course, the best gluten free cookies I've had since being diagnosed with celiacs. SO so sweet, then there were gifts! It was like Christmas only more emotional, and unexpected! They gave me a beautiful leather journal, an address book, a big jewelry box, some pampered chef stuff, and the best gift of all, a scrapbook that they made with each of their pictures with a letter from each of them inside. I just barely read all the letters and there are still tears rolling down my cheeks and dropping onto the keyboard. I am so blessed! Lots of crying lots of hugs, it's so touching to see 8 year olds show so much emotion. I just feel so so blessed. Now picture me sitting at my desk at school in a very lonely empty and naked classroom, I'm wearing a black dress with a green sweater, and of course I haven't taken off my sash all day or my crown! I have mascara all over my face I can tell, and I have a crying headache, but I'm smiling because I am so blessed and grateful to be alive.

I just feel so blessed! I'll share pictures of the actual event when I get them....
Anyway, an emotional and wonderful day!







I wore the crown and Tiara all day, my kids were so proud, especially when we were in line or something, and another teacher complimented me on the sash or the crown, my kids just beamed!

"Super Fancy Jewelry Box" "with a spinney thingy for your necklaces!!!" (Shaylie was SO excited about that detail!

beautiful leather journal, to write down all of my adventures!

This scrapbook was so adorable, a page for each child, with a pocket behind for a letter to me from each of them, their messages were so tender and sweet!An exerpt from Bree's letter "Mrs. Lance, I hope some day they will find a cure for silly acts disease. And I hope you have fun scoop a diving in Jordan" (okay so my silly acts disease (really its celiacs) must be the reason I am such a nut case right? and I just know I am going to have a blast scoop a diving in Jordan, this makes me laugh out loud! Ever wonder what those kids are thinking? I guess it makes sense though right? So cute!

ALSO

I think I must be REALLY crazy, I had my students make puppets, write fairy tale scripts, and put on a puppet show for younger grades! It was so cool, they could choose any fairy tale story, and give it an original twist, for example we had one group do "Beauty and the Beanstalk" and another do "Snow White and the Seven Dorks" Another group did "Alice and the cheer-pigs in football land" (my my what imaginations and creativity we have!) Anyway I wish I had a shot of the puppet theater I made , it is so grand. It was a ball, the kids were so so proud! And the puppets turned out a trillion times cuter than I expected! This is Shrek and Fiona, yep they're frogs, and the villian was Malifasnake (instead of Malificent) :)The wicked witch and the big bad wolfA Dwarf and Prince Charming :)Here are Alice and the cheer-pigs...again, so creative!

It was the Best of times...it was the worst of times...

I got to see John for four glorious days! John had leave for four days before he goes to Afghanistan . I flew to Washington on Wednesday afternoon , we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, and then drove to a little Victorian town called Port Townsend. We stayed in the cutest Victorian Bed and Breakfast, it was so so cool! On Thursday we took a ferry to Whidbey Island where we explored an old army base right on the coast called Fort Casey, and there was a cool lighthouse there, and tons of old cannons and I don't know what to call it, but like stuff to defend the land...anyway, really cool. We went to a beach called Impression point, found tons of Agates and rocks, it was all SO beautiful! We ate at the coolest restaurant and had Salmon :) Mmmmm, SO good! On Friday we explored downtown Port Townsend, went to all the shops, found a cute musicbox and there was a gem and bead show, and I got 3 new pendants to wear. :) We also watched a sailboat race, I've never seen so many sailboats, we explored another beach, found another lighthouse, awesome! On Saturday we went hiking in Olympic National Park, to Marymere Falls, and we went to Rialto Beach, it was awesome!

Okay those were just the events, here are my favorite parts:

Holding hands, I really miss that! Walking around on the beach, the road, the rocks, the sand, the path, the street, everywhere, just talking like normal. The weather man said it was going to rain the whole time, and we felt not a drop! It was gorgeous the entire time! The most thoughful gift ever, tanzanite earings from my true love :)Ice cream everyday. The green everything...the smell of spring, you know fresh and crisp. Sleeping in, snuggling and watching movies. Street performers, lighthouses, fishermen, friendly people on the street, the starfish, tons of boats, riding the ferry, driving all over the beautiful state of Washington. Eating frozen grapes, and salmon, chocolate covered strawberries, and the yummiest root beer float I've ever had. Laughing really hard watching Juno, and Dan in real life, and episodes of the office. And waking up smiling, and not stopping till I fall asleep.

Marymere falls, so beautiful.

Cute John skipping rocks at Rialto Beach

Silly shot, at Rialto Beach

Underpass on our hike to Marymere falls

The backyard of our cute bed and breakfast, and you can see my earrings!

At the Nifty Fifties restaurant, and the root beer float I have ever had

A starfish that was on the beach, still alive, I threw it back in

My adorable John Boy, the white spots in the background are sailboats

On the trail to Marymere falls

The Ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, that's the skyline of Seattle in the background

Again, on the ferry, you can see the space needle to the left of my head :)

Fort Casey, there were tiny daisies everywhere!

Cutest man alive!

Lighthouse at fort Casey


The worst of times, today was Awful, saying goodbye to John...man it's hard, my head is still aching, I just have to have faith that he will be well taken care of, and so will I. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers and phone calls, I'll let you know how he's doing :)