Sunday, August 22, 2010

Life is Getting Busy

This whole "Dean of Students" thing is killing me! It's been a struggle, but it's also been good knowing that I have the support of my teachers. I also found out that I will be acting as the liaison between the admin and the teachers. That was not a duty assigned to me by my principal, but something I found out from talking to one of the teacher's husbands. I knew that was going to happen though. My teachers have told me that they finally feel comfortable going to someone in the admin. That makes me feel better. I was also told by a few parents that they were glad to see that I was the Dean of Students. One parent almost fell to the ground with relief when he found out. A bit too much of a reaction if you ask me. I have spent 12+ hours everyday at school trying to get things ready for the year and, most importantly, the first day of school. I am really hoping things go smoothly tomorrow, but I know Murphy's Law will rear it's ugly head in there somewhere. I have also realized that I will not have as much time to write on my blog. I apologize to all my followers out there (all 7 of you). My life will not be out there as much.

Today we had a special Stake Conference. President Butler and his presidency were released. President Butler and President Brooks either will be or have already moved out of SA. The new Presidency is President Spendlove, President Lindberg, and President Carlisle. Elder C. Scott Grow of the Quorum of the Seventy came for the whole event and gave a great talk. He spoke on the Family Proclamation and the importance of family. We see so much the attack on the family so it was a great reminder what we should be doing and who has given us the responsibility of family.

Leland is working hard studying for his boards which he takes in a week, preparing to teach seminary, reffing high school football, and working on his research and dissertation. It's going to be a busy year. Great, but busy.

Oh! I found my camera cord so I can now upload my "Only in Utah" pics. It won't be all of them, but some of them. I do know that some of the things pictured are not just Utah, but for me, it's "Only in Utah"

Aw, dang it! My batteries are low and I don't have any in the house. Okay, so when I get batteries, I will get them up here.

Monday, August 2, 2010

New Job Title

I am now the Dean of Students (main job Discipline) at my school! Woo-hoo!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I'm Back!

It's been a little while since I have written because I have been out of town the past two weeks and did not take my computer. Seeing the family was a lot of fun and meeting the rest of Leland's family was great! Utah, I have to admit, was fun. But I will touch on that later. It's great to be back in SA. I missed home so much. There is no place quite like Texas!

We started the vacation visiting my parents in El Paso. We went up to Cloudcroft and Ruidoso, NM to take a break from the heat. It gets into the 70's in the middle of summer. It's a nice little retreat to see the beauty and feel the coolness. We didn't really do much there besides help my dad out with some decorating things around the house and do an early birthday celebration for Leland. The dogs were excited as always to us. Tipper has finally accepted to playing second fiddle to Leland. He's still not happy about it, but he has accepted it. Hallie has also realized the Leland is part of the family by wiping her slobbering water mouth on him. After Hallie drinks water from her bowl she has enough manners to find the nearest napkin to wipe her mouth on so water doesn't get all over the floor. That napkin just happened to be Leland no matter where in the house he was. It's official, Leland is part of the family =0)

Utah, let's say it is something never to forget. It was different from what I expected. When I got off the plane and we were driving to Orem the only thing I could think was that I was in a bowl and began feeling a little claustrophobic. But I got use to it by time we left, so no big. I ate a ton of food from some of Leland's favorite restaurants. The list includes, Tucano's Brazilian Steakhouse (yumminess), Cafe Rio, Mi Ranchito (both are nice tries at Mexican, but would never pass in Texas), Brick Oven (best calzone I have ever eaten in my life), Sensuous Sandwich (great sandwich) and I think there was one more, but I can't remember. One night Leland's best friend, Jarred, and his wife and two adorable little girls took us out through Alpine Loop. It was gorgeous! The stars were so clear, the air crisp and cool. The only bad thing was the ride up was really curvy and the roads were do narrow I thought we were going to drive off the side. It was fun seeing a waterfall at night and all the aspen and pine trees. I would love to go back during the day and do some hiking up there. Thanks to Jarred and his little fam for taking us up there. I also had the honor of participating in my first Pioneer Day celebration, family style Minute to Win It, and Cul de Sac of Fire (or Cul de Sac del Fuego as I call it). We also celebrated Leland's 30th birthday. He's and old man now, no longer a young buck. It was fun and we had a fantastic time! I also took a grand tour of Provo and the BYU area. It wasn't as nice as I thought it would be. It did have some really cute houses (I love the red brick homes) but it wasn't what I expected. The one thing I loved about the areas I went to, they were so clean. I have never seen public restrooms and universities that were so well taken care of. There were no plastic bags in the street and I saw no litter. No joke, I didn't see one piece of trash on the street. It was so refreshing! I also started an "Only in Utah" photo album. There were so many things that I had never seen anywhere in my travels across the United States that I had to have an "Only in Utah" album. For example, there was an apartment complex that had the title of "Home of the Marriage Guarantee". The Sam's in Provo also had paintings of Temples and pictures of Prophets for sale, only in Utah could you find that. That will be the next album I put on facebook once I get back into the apartment. I almose forgot the best part of the visit, the Salt Lake City Temple. You can't really see it anymore because of all the build up around it, but it is beautiful! I was able to go through a live session which was so much fun! The workers did a fantastic job and really got into the parts they were playing, I loved it! We also did an open house out there. I was telling Leland we should get married and have an open house every year. The gift cards are awesome! It was fun meeting all the new people in my life (and seeing a friend I had not seen in over ten years) and hearing stories about my wonderful husband. He is a really loved person in that area of the world. It's fun hearing all the wonderful things about your spouse from people you don't know.

Being back in SA has been great but it would be better if I were in my own bed (I miss it so much). We got home Saturday night and there was this awful smell of mildew. I just figured it was because we had turned off the A/C while we were gone and it was really humid and rainy. It wasn't until Leland looked at the floor and saw that the carpet was completely soaked. The copper wiring to the refrigerator had sprung a leak. We spent the rest of the night securing a place to stay and helping the carpet guy move furniture so he could start sucking up the water and removing the padding underneath the carpet. He said that there had to have been a couple hundred gallons of water that sprung forth. Silly me, I was worried someone was going to break into the place and ransack all our stuff. I should have been worried about the fridge instead. We don't know the extent of the damage yet but will find out soon enough. But, you know, it's a part of life that you have to deal with. Deal with it and move on to other things like meeting with my new principal tomorrow morning. I think I will find out if I got the admin job or not. I will let you know tomorrow. Fingers are crossed, eeeek!