Havasupai round 2

This year's Havasupai trip was a dream.

We took a helicopter into the canyon

Best decision I've ever made.

For real.

If you are on a 10 mile (each way) backpacking trip and

there is an option to take a 3 minute helicopter ride instead,

always opt for it.

You won't regret it.

But take a good picture of your humongous backpack

so you still look as hard core as last year.

This is our Campsite. We slept in trees under the stars.

It rained at least once everyday we were there.

So we we're soooo loving our ponchos

and hammock covers made by Preston

He is a problem solving genius.

We had a blast.

Hiking, eating, cave exploring, swimming,

cliff jumping, the works

And, yes, we accidentally wore matching outfits.

We filled our water bottles from waterfalls

you could straight drink from

Teal water like nowhere i've ever seen before.

Havasupai is such a beautiful place.

I love love it all.

Havasupai, I love you and now that I don't actually have to hike to get to you, I think i'll see you again next year, and the year after that and the year after that.

A rescue story

Preston and I were swinging in our hammock

when we saw a bright yellow smiley face scamper across the lawn.

It was this guy.

Really, owner of turtle? a smiley face?

embarrassing.

After we decided that it wasn't any of our neighbors' pet

Preston scooped him up in a cooler and we took him to the pond.

He ran to the water and dove in.

He was like the happiest turtle i've ever seen

and not just because of his yellow back tat.

We felt like one million dollars the rest of the day.

4th and the 5th

We spent the 4th at the Rexburg parade which is always a dream.

Candy, The fire truck hose full blast in the streets, ladies walking on horses backs, Chevron gas station workers doing choreographed dances to Grease Lightning...We got the good stuff this year.

We headed to IF for fireworks with our friends the Brady's.

I love love love the 4th of July. First cause the fireworks (and Idaho Falls has one of the best shows in ever), and second cause when it turns midnight it's my birthday, which I super love.

So now it's my birthday! 27. Whoa. We woke up and rode bikes all around our little town, packed our backpacks and now we're headed off to this little dream land. For real. I love me some Havasupai

I'm glad he was born

Happy Birthday, Preston

You're makin' 30 look real good.

schools out for summer. except that it snowed this morning. which makes me not feel so summery.

My first year of teaching.

My first class.

And aren't they dolls in their grad hats? And do you spy the tuxedo t-shirt? My favorite.

Today was the last day of school.

We did Kindergarten Graduation yesterday

so we could straight party today.

I'm talking hula-hoops, parachute, popsicles,

Justin Bieber freeze dance contest...the works.

The Pre-school teacher, me and the other kindergarten teachers got together and choreographed a dance to Rebecca Black's "Friday" to do for our kids. Maybe your thinking- what teachers take the time to make up a dance to perform just for their students? Um...Awesome ones who hang out way too much and have too much sugar and caffeine all the time. The kid's reaction was so funny. Real confused. like why is my teacher dancing for me? and how does she know this song?

We ended the dance by silly stringing them all. It was a blast.

I will so miss my kindergarteners.

I'm not teaching next year because this guy has 70+ shows booked just Fall semester and about that many for the rest of next year. This year has been crazy with Preston gone so much and me spending all my time teaching or lesson planning and we feel like we deserve some time to just be together more than a lot. So we're going to tour the country together next year.

And then i'll teach again forever after that. Because I really love it like an unreal amount. It is so fulfilling and rewarding. The chance to get to connect with so many children and play a role in their lives is beautiful. This year has been the best year of my life. hands down.

MOM

We painted portraits of our mom's for Mother's Day.

They turned out incredible. These kids are 5 and 6.

I also interviewed each kid about their mom.

Turns out their mom's range from ages 9 to 78

The absolute majority of their favorite things to do include:

1. laundry, 2. cook and clean,

3. vaccuum, 4. clean my room and do homework.

Meet some of the Kindergarten Moms:

Christian lives with his grandma, Cindy.

She is 18 years old, loves adult food,

cooking and cleaning and she is the very best duster.

Kason's mom looks like she's on the cast of Jersey shore.

He's pretty sure she's 16 years old,

but he hasn't measured her yet.

Parker's mom will turn 78 on May 19th! exciting! Mostly because she has a 6 year old, a 3 year old and a 9 month old baby. She is looking great for 78. She also loves the color orange because they used to live in Texas and Parker told me everything is orange in Texas.

Samantha's mom, Patty, is a 13 year old shop-a-holic

who loves ice cream and anything purple.

She likes to be called Patty Mama.

(I said, 'Sammy is that really what you call your mom?'

she said 'no, but I want to.')

Here is MY pretty mom.

Wedding announcement 1981

Church last Sunday 2011

She is the best lady in ever. She is constantly learning. Ever since I can remember she has been taking random classes at the college. she took a wildflower class when we were kids and would take us on hikes and teach us the names of all the flowers. She took a belly dancing class and we looooved to play dress up in her tinkling, jingly bra costume. She has been taking photography classes for the past few years and is an amazing photographer. She wakes up early most mornings to watch photo shop tutorials and will stay up all night editing pictures. She doesn't do it for money, even though she could make bank. She does it out of simple joy and love of learning. She is inspiring to me. I love my mom so so much. more than I can ever say. I am so thankful for the way she has lived her life. She is a constant example of love and charity.

And she's really funny without trying.

Shouldn't have left you, without a dope beat to step to.

For Easter my mom sent me pictures of my baptism.

I had never seen these pictures before.

It was my favorite Easter gift.

(I'm on the far left with the awesome wannabe Zack Morris bangs.

Which battle Tresa's bangs for worst ever.)

Preston has been touring a lot and i've been loving Kindergarten a lot. I've also been loving Survivor a lot. How have there been 22 seasons of Survivor and this is the first one i've ever watched? It's so good. like scream at the t.v. and geek out alone in the living room good. And I'm still not sure if I love Boston Rob or hate him.

He's one of those people.

Also, this happened...

Its a key. IN my tire

Which is so so weird. How do you run over a key in such a way that it impales the tire completely?

I have just 4 weeks of Kindergarten left this year. Preston has 1 week of shows left. Then we are vacationing fools all summer. We really do deserve it. So far we have a Caribbean Cruise booked. Havsupai permits reserved. A Kentucky trip, a Tahoe trip and a lot of real lazy summer days planned.

Oh, I dream of summer. Or even Spring. We're not feeling any of it here.

It snowed today. really. I don't mind cozy winter, but i'm over it.

Except I do love this winter picture.

We went to the Midway ice castle with Matt and Jules. Preston decided a shirtless photo shoot would be the best decision for him. Turns out he was right.

The end.

Be my

Can you even think of a better Valentine's Day gift? Its a blow dryer with a

Ferrari designed engine in it!

It seriously dries my thick frizzy hair in less than 10 min.

whoa. usually takes me like 30.

Plus it has a turbo button that'll blow your face off.

really. I feel like a billionaire.

A Ferrari blow dryer? whaaat!

Real cool. Good job, Press.

Plus I got a whole lot of these.

Which kind of makes me very happy.

It was most of the kids' first real Valentines.

They were so excited to hand out and get their little treats from each other.

Kindergarten is maybe one of my favorite things.

100

Today was the 100th day of school.

Its kind of a big deal. We celebrated hard.

I gave each student a lime green $100

and asked what they would buy.

Which one of these 5 year olds

do you think will be a millionaire?

A Zebra

A Volcano

Jelly Beans

I would put it in my savings account.

A water park, A shark, and a ninja

were some of the other choice answers.