Kentucky Trip

Ok, I have SOOO much to update on! July has been a good but extremely hectic month! I go back to work next week and so we had to cram all of our vacations into July.

At the beginning of July, Emily and I said goodbye to our husbands for a week (and that was truly traumatic for Emily and I and our husbands) and then we went on a family seeing vacation. Em and I first flew to Kentucky to visit our Jeremy and Valerie. Jeremy and Valerie are quite the tour guides and we had a BLAST!!

The first day of our trip, we went to Jeffersonville, Indiana to an old-fashioned candy shop called Schimpff's. We had an awesome tour and they showed us how they make their old-fashioned cinnamon drops. You can see the man in the background cooling the mixture. It was a really fun tour!

Afterwards, we had to buy lots of souvenirs, a.k.a. candy! :). Em and I are holding up an assorted package that had cinnamon drops, caramel covered marshmallows, and turtles (actually in the shape of turtles!!)

Our next stop was at the Louisville Slugger Museum. We took a tour that showed us all around the factory and how they make their famous bats. I knew that Sam would've LOVED the tour (cursed work! :)). After the tour, they have LOTS of fun photo opportunities. Em and I are watching Babe Ruth (I think that's who it is) "drop a bomb on those fools", as Sam would say.

Valerie posing while holding a bat owned by Mickey Mantle. Doesn't she look like she's ready to hit a home run?!

Of course we had to pose in front of the big bat. One thing I learned is that this bat is not a sculpture, it is actually a plumbing vent. The city of Louisville wouldn't let the museum have a sculpture that high, so they disguised it a plumbing vent. What a genius idea!

Next on our tour was to the Glassworks Factory. They make all this beautiful artwork entirely out of glass! The guy in this pic is heating up the glass to make a whimsical wine cork. It was fascinating to see him at work!

This was my favorite part of the tour. We saw guys doing blown-glass. One guy is obviously blowing the glass while the other is shaping it with wet newspapers. It is SUCH an amazing process to watch. They ended up making this BEAUTIFUL bowl! I wanted to buy it, but it was $450! YIKES! Then I'd still have to carry it on the plane. So I bought a beautiful glass necklace instead! (You're welcome Sam! Hahah!)

Afterwards, we went to Churchhill Downs where they do the Kentucky Derby. It's so fascinating to me that they have this gorgeous building and they make such a HUGE deal about a 2 minute race. It was still interesting to see though.

Our next stop was at the Louisville temple. It was closed for cleaning, but the grounds people let us take some pic anyway!

The cute couple!! :)

Lastly, we went to see Daniel Boone's grave. I'm not the best historian, but I wasn't quite sure who Daniel Boone was. Ok, I knew he was like a Davy Crockett, but other than that I didn't know too much about him. I still don't, but his grave has an awesome view of Frankfurt!! :) That's the state capital in the background.

That evening, Valerie, Emily and I all had a BLAST catching fireflies (or the Kentuckyians call them lightning bugs). Call me a West Coast girl, but I had never seen anything like them. It was fun to catch them and look at how many we caught! What fun! :)

The following day, the 4 of us drove from Kentucky to Maryland to visit my parents (yes, my parents did move to Maryland!). It was about a 9 hour trip, but we had a good time. We stopped at this burger place in West Virginia where they make homemade root beer and all of the waiters look oddly the same (inbreeding!?). We also saw Moorhead State University, where Jeremy and Valerie went to school. This pic is at a rest stop overlooking Pennsylvania. It's so green and beautiful! I LOVE IT!. Most importantly, we did a Slurpee run for Jeremy (there are NO Slurpees in Kentucky. Poor Jeremy!). We got to Maryland at about 7PM and saw my parents' new condo. Next time I'll post about what we did in Maryland. Stay tuned! :)

Sam's Wisdom Teeth Experience

Poor Sam! This was his wisdom teeth experience to a "T"! I decided not to take any pics of Sam during this time because he really had such a rough time. We got to the dentist's office early and they took him right in to start the procedure. They were just getting ready to start when the dentist noticed that his gas tank was empty. So poor Sam only received shots and he was awake for the rest of the procedure.

They told us that if everything goes well, it would only take an hour. Well, we were actually there for 5 HOURS!! Yes, that's no exaggeration! His top left tooth came out beautifully. The rest just refused to come out. Sam's bones are so strong that dentist had a really hard time removing this teeth from the jaw bone.

Ok, so I have to tell this funny story. I had already been waiting almost 2 hours and I didn't know what was going on. The receptionist came out and ask, "Do you want to know the latest? They think he had a heart attack." My heart literally stopped and I about died. Then she told me, "Yeah, it's been all over the internet." It took me minute and then I realized that she was talking about Michael Jackson!! I was laughing so hard when I found that out!! Too funny!!

They finally brought me back to see Sam at about 5:15PM (about 3 hours later). They were telling me how to take care of him when I looked over at Sam and his whole body was sweating so hard and his face was white. So they layed him back down and cooled him off. But everytime they brought him into sitting position, he would start to pass out.

About an hour later, the dentist recommended that I go get Sam a smoothie so that we can give him his Vicadine. So I did and afterwards we were finally able to get him into the car!! We got home at around 7PM and Sam was all bloody and sore. Poor guy!!

He had a pretty slow recovery and so he didn't give his talk in church on Sunday. In fact, he only made it through about 15 minutes of church before he needed to go home. Then he slept the rest of Sunday. He also took work off yesterday too because he was feeling so bad. Last night he started to feel better and so he went to work today. I sure hope he never has to go through anything like that again. Poor baby!!

Oregon Trail

Do you guys remember the computer game Oregon Trail? Well, I found this website where you can play the old school version for free!! I just played it and I made it all the way to Oregon. Oh, and when it tells you to flip the disk, go to the bottom and push "change disk" and then "resume" and then the space bar. Happy traveling! :)

http://www.virtualapple.org/oregontraildisk.html

Isn't That What Mooching Off Parents is for?

So I FINALLY finished school (on Thursday). It was a sad goodbye. My students were all crying and some of my girls were sobbing, "We're never going to see you again!". Talk about a jab to the heart! It was even harder saying goodbye to all the teachers at my school, especially my 3rd grade team. I LOVE those women!! I've grown so attached to my school. I have a feeling that this transition to my new school is going to be a little rough.

So, to dull the pain, I've done lots and lots of SHOPPING (poor Sam!! He HATES when I spend money. Hehehe!). I bought some dresses, shoes, and some cute stuff for the house. I usually do lots of shopping at the beginning of the summer and then it mellows out later. Em and I are actually going to Kentucky (to visit Jeremy and Valerie) and Maryland (to visit my parents) next week. I'm SOOO looking forward to that trip. I only have 1 month before I start at my new school. So I've crammed LOTS into these next few weeks.

Then this afternoon, Sam gets his wisdom teeth out. I was SO mad when we first got married and he told me that he never had his wisdom teeth out. I was like, isn't that what mooching off your parents is for!?!! :). Luckily, his teeth have grown in enough so that our normal dentist is going to do the surgery. The best part is that our dental insurance will cover 100%. YEAH for insurance! I'll make sure to post some pics of his swollen teeth. Then Sam is suppose to give a talk in church on Sunday and he thinks he'll be well enough to do it. We'll see if he's up to it (gosh, my cheeks swelled out like a chipmunk after I had mine out!). Hopefully everything will go well!

My New Fav Book

I know, it's been forever since I've posted on our blog, but I have a 5 word response to that, "End of the school year." Holy cow, it's been insane (I think I've been turned into a basketcase! Hence the pressure poster. :))! Not only do I have all of the normal end of the year things to do, but I've also had to start packing and moving my classroom. Sam and I have spent a few Saturdays packing things up. Then last night we were in my classroom for 5 1/2 hours last night packing things up and we still have one more trip to do. My poor extra bedroom!! Hopefully I'll be able to get into my new classroom soon so that I can have my extra bedroom back (it's literally piled up to the ceiling!).

Anyway, the purpose to this post is to talk about a book that I've been reading, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. Emily recommended it to me, and it's REALLY good. It's full of all these pieces of wisdom, regardless of what religion you are. There was a parable in there that just totally stuck out to me and I wanted to share it. It's kind of a long passage, but I think it's WELL worth it.

"There was a boy who was traveling to find the wisest man in the land so that he could find the secret to the happiness of life. He found the wise man in a castle at the top of a hill, but the wise man was extremely busy. He told the boy to come back in 2 hours, and return in 2 hours.

"'Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something,' said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held 2 drops of oil. 'As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill.'

"The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After 2 hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.

"'Well,' asked the wise man, 'did you see the Perisian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?'

"The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

"'Then go back and observe the marvels of my world,' said the wise man. 'You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house.'

"Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.

"'But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?' asked the wise man.

"Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.

"'Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you,' said the wisest of wise men. 'The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world , and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon.'"

That parable just really struck me. I spend so much of my time focused on things that I have to get done or the bad things in my life, that I rarely find time to observe the good and beautiful things around me. Once I can learn to do both, I think I'll be much happier. Maybe this post was only for me, but I sure had an "Ah Ha!" moment when I read it in the book that I wanted to share it with others! :)

Our Near Death Experience :)

**Note: In no way was this story made-up or exaggerated. This story is meant to supply us with sincere sympathy for our near tragic experience. :)**


Sam and I had a near death experience last night!! We were getting ready for bed, I had just finished reading my scriptures and then we said our nightly prayer. I hopped back into bed and then Sam went over to his side of the bed, opened up the covers and then freaked out. I of course jumped out of bed to see what he freaked out about. Then I saw it. . . the BIGGEST black widow spider came crawling out from under the covers of our bed!! Talk about terrifying! Anyone who knows me KNOWS that I have arachnophobia! I had just been in bed, under the covers for about 10 minutes, unknowing what lurked under the covers. *shiver* We quickly killed the little critter, and then put all new sheets, blankets, EVERYTHING on our bed. After that little incident, we freaked out over any itchy feelings or sudden movements. Let's hope we don't relive that experience. If that happens again, we'll definitely be calling the Orkin man! :)

BTW- I'm wishing I had seen the cartoon spider at the beginning of this post instead of the actual spider. *shiver*

Holy cow! 4 Years?!?!?!

No, we were not abducted by aliens, but our phone & internet haven't worked in 2 weeks! GRRR!! We called the phone company and they finally sent someone out to fix it. How much I have missed you internet!! :)! Now I have some updating to do!

Not too much is going on with us. Sam and I just celebrated our 4th anniversary!!! I SOOO can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday. Since our anniversary landed on a Wednesday, we decided to celebrate on the weekend before. We went down to LA and saw the Getty Museum. We enjoyed the Getty Museum. It wasn't as good as we thought it would be, but we still had a good time. It's just difficult to go to any art museums after coming back from some of the greatest art museums in the world (The Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, the Orangerie, etc). I'm sure we'll go back to the Getty Museum though.

The gardens were just beautiful! Everything was in bloom and it was a beautiful day! It was soo cute seeing people carrying their sun umbrellas as they were strolling through the garden! So cute!

More of the gardens.

After the Getty Museum, we went to Santa Monica beach. We were a little bummed because it was WAY overcast and cold at the beach (cursed June gloom!!). In fact, Sam and I were both huddled in our beach towels, because of course we didn't bring any sweaters! Sam took a nap on the beach and I was able to read Twilight! What a life! :)

I was pretty happy just being at the beach. Can ya tell?!?


What a cutie! Hands off girls . . . he's all mine! :)

After the beach, we went to dinner at Red Robin and then we came home. It was a short little trip, but I can't complain since our big trip was, of course, Paris. It was nice just to get away and spend time together. Now it's back to the world of Sam studying and me packing up my classroom. Only 15 more school days left! I'll be happy to have a new group of students, but I'm really sad to leave all my co-workers! We'll see what happens!