Fight!

Fighting? What are your thoughts on it? Fun? Invigorating? Stress release? Competition? Me? I'm not exactly a fan of fighting or any kind of confrontation. I get all nervous and my adrenaline shoots up. My brain is yelling at me as my body heat rises and I start to shake all over. Yet...I did something completely out of the ordinary yesterday. As my boyfriend and I were waiting for our movie to start...okay, we had an hour and a half to kill at Jordan Commons...he suggested fake fighting so we would know how to fight when we really have an issue. I wasn't too keen on the idea, considering there are only two times in my life when I want to be the center of attention: my wedding day and when I have a baby. Either way, we fake fought in public, in Jordan Commons...3 times. It was the best entertainment I could have asked for last night. On two different occasions, I stood up and demanded his keys and as I walked off, yelled, "You can walk home!" The best part was people were trying not to watch but couldn't help looking. We did it all improv and didn't play any of it. At one point, as I walked off, two guys turned around and said, "Dude. What did you do?" Classic. So if you would like cheap entertainment for yourself and your significant other, I suggest...fake fighting in public.

Grad School

So as I sit here on a Friday night, doing absolutely nothing, I decided it was probably time to update the blog. So here goes. Nothing much as really warranted a blog post, but I did decide what to get my masters in. Yay! I decided to just do a traditional Masters of Education from SUU. I loved their education program and decided they were the best route for me. Granted it was more because they didn't require the GRE because I had a high enough GPA, but we're not telling them that. :)

I will most likely begin in June. I missed the deadline for winter semester. I will do classes mainly online and through EdNet and get an endorsement in English as a Second Language at the same time for $15 a credit. I'm pretty stoked. I've been throwing ideas about my masters through my head for the past 11 months and am finally settled on a degree. Right now, just a regular ed. Possibly an administration endorsement later or a doctorate degree but right now, masters degree will be achieved by 28!

Here Comes the Bride...

On June 26, we had my little brother's wedding in the backyard. My fourth wedding in a month. Wow! Talk about stress on my mom, along with other family issues, but all in all it turned out well. His fiance's name is Alicia, from Chicago, and they met up in Salt Lake in November. It turned out really pretty and quite a few people turned out to show their support. We had both the reception and the ceremony in our backyard. They plan on being sealed in the temple in a year. Kudos to mom to pulling it off and kudos to them!

Ryan and Alicia

Kissing the bride

Poore family

Mom and Ryan

Me!

Mom and the boys

My good lookin' brothers

Lake Powell

For the first time, I finally got a chance to go to Lake Powell. And it was just what I needed. Relaxation away from life and the chance to meet new people. It was a lot of fun. I drove up from STG, on a Sunday, arrived at 8PM, and stayed through Wednesday morning. We wake boarded, water skied, jet-skied, tubed, lounged around the houseboat, and slept on top of the houseboat under the stars. It was really pretty; although, the sun gets up way too early without any mountains to block it. Wake boarding 8AM

Dancing on the boat...notice the guys behind us :)

Chilling on the boat eating Otter Pops (I ate so many)

I had one of the guys take me out on the jet-ski, and before we were even out of sight of the houseboat, maybe 2 minutes, he dumped me into the lake and himself by flipping it. He ended up partially sinking the jet ski and it wouldn't start. I just layed in the lake laughing hysterically. They had to tow it back to the houseboat with the other jet ski and ended up spending an hour fixing it. I showered while they fixed it :)

I wake boarded again which I was totally stoked about. I hadn't wake boarded since 2008 and was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back up again. I didn't have the chance to get to the lake last year so it had been about two years since I had been; but, I got right up and did quite well the first day. The second day I didn't do so well because I was so sore. I woke up that morning and I swear every muscle in my body ached. But luckily we had enough guys willing to give us massages. :) I spent the entire time with no make-up on, one shower in 3 days, my hair piled on top of my head, and my days spent in a swim suit. Loved it! I hope to be able to do it again next summer!

2nd day wake boarding

My crash....

Mexican Riveria Cruise

Two days after school let out we left to the country. Yes, finally. I left the mainland as I call it. The family took a week long cruise to three cities in Mexico. I thoroughly enjoyed most of it minus the rocking of the ship. My stomach didn't handle it too well. We hit Cabo San Lucas, which I think was the most beautiful place, Mazatlan, the most irritating because of all the vendors, and Puerto Vallarta, where we hit the jungles of Mexico.

Staircase in our dining room

Arriving in Cabo

Just sailing along

In Cabo San Lucas, we walked the streets looking around and then took a glass bottom boat out to a 'lover's beach" and snorkeled. All of us minus Mom came out with battle wounds from snorkeling. After I got thrown into the rocks while snorkeling, I didn't really go back out. I also had a difficult time relaxing with my head under water trying to breathe at the same time. But it was a gorgeous place.

At Lover's Beach

My battle wounds which turned into a nasty scar

Pulling into Cabo

In Mazatlan, we did most of our shopping. There were vendors all over the place, and no matter where we went, we were bombarded to buy something. I felt really bad because I knew this was some of the people's only income, so as my brother's put it, "I got hosed."

This boy was walking around the beach looking for people to pay to take pictures with his iguana. As he walked away another vendor said, in broken English, "quick, take picture now." This got the kid's attention and Jeremy snapped it right as he turned around. Notice the disgusted look developing on his face...the other vendor then laughed and said, "he got picture; didn't have to pay." lol

Puerto Vallarta was the most fun place for us. We did an outdoor adventure in the jungles where we rappelled and zip-lined through the jungles, It was so much fun. The guides we had were hilarious and we had a great time with them. Mom was sure she was going to die on this excursion but she made it through!

Funny story about this: I ended up kicking one of our guides in the shoulder as he shook me on a zip line so to get back at me, he dropped me 15 feet into the water. So as he was helping me up, the girl taking the pics told me to pull him in. So I did and here's both of us in the water.

I had trouble on this one; I get slipping and slamming into the rocks...

First Zipline

I have decided I prefer air and land travel due to the lack of liking all of the rocking on the boat. But I highly recommend a cruise once in a lifetime. Our attendants and servers were so nice; and he food was amazing. All you can eat! We had a great time.

Mother's Day

I did forget to write about this. I had Mom send me some pictures that we had uploaded to create a DVD of Dad for the funeral of pictures throughout his life. I had her send me one of the day I was blessed when I was a baby and one of their hands when they were married showing their wedding rings. I turned both of them into black and white and touched up by a friend and then made 8x10's of them on the computer and gave to her for Mother's Day. The one of their hands really had special meaning for her after an experience she had with his wedding ring in the temple. I'm grateful for my mom and everything she is and has become for us. She's stronger than she realizes and is such a strength to each one of us kids and I don't know what I do without her. She is my strength, my mother, and my best friend.

"School's Out for the Summer"

All I have to say is hallelujah! It has been a long year and I can't exactly say 2009 was fun. I have enjoyed the majority of my classes and will miss quite a few of my students this year. I have enjoyed having a lot of them and the laughs I get each day. I always say, after I go to work, that I never have a dull day and each day is never the same. Although I teach the same stuff sometimes 5 times a day, each period is different. Sometimes I get to the point where I can repeat the handouts I have, but overall I really do love teaching. My goal one day is to get to the high school level. I student taught at Dixie High and loved it. And probably starting in 2012, I will begin my masters in administration. I am starting in the fall to take some classes working towards my social studies composite endorsement which will allow me to teach geography, history, sociology, psychology, government, and economics. 21 credits and then I can attempt to pass the Praxis test :)

I do have some fun things planned this summer. I'm going on a cruise Sunday to Mexico with the fam which I am so stoked about. (I'll make sure to post pics) Ryan is getting married at the end of June so I'll be spending some time in STG. Texas is in the middle of July; my cousins live there so I'm going for a week, and then right when I get back, on to Idaho to visit Grandma and Grandpa Lords. So needless to say, I'll be traveling the West this summer and I'm excited!