Mexico!

Hello blog readers!  Blogging has once again escaped me for the past month or so.  After Scotland I decided to up and go to Mexico!!  I, with about 20 friends from my singles ward, rented a few condos and cars and lived the easy life for a week in Playa Del Carmen - near Cancun.  It was a most enjoyable vacation!  There are some key things that made it so awesome:  1) Bringing people who actually speak Spanish   2) Making sure someone else planned everything  3) Having people there that you love to be with whether in Provo or Mexico!  Needless to say, it was a total blast!  Here, have a look for yourself...

Here we are after a few hours of snorkeling.  We saw a sea turtle, a stingray and lots of fish!
 

Even the sun is more awesome in Mexico

My first experience with true Mexican food.  I could eat cheese quesadillas for the rest of my life.

Telum Beach.  I was told this beach is rated as one of the top in Mexico.  And for good reason - it was a-maze-ing!  Just look at those blue waves!

Melissa and I after some wave jumping

The condos we stayed in.  Highly recommend doing this over staying in a hotel.

The Motor Scooter gang.  We rented scooters at Cazumel and toured the island in style.

Me with Jesus, our tour guide at the Chichanita ruins.

The whole gang after exploring the Mayan ruins.

 In front of a Mayan temple - the ruins were one of my most favorite parts of the trip

Delicious Mango drink

My iguana friend and I

The girls

And this would be by far my favorite part of Mexico!  It is called a 'Cinote' - an outlet from an underground river that runs through Mexico.  There were tons of black catfish swimming around.  I jumped from that staircase over there... can you see it?  Ya, I'm pretty dang cool.

Andrew, Kristina and I at another Cinote we found.  This one was amazingly clear!  You could see the bottom which made it look like you could reach it, but when we tried to push ourselves down, our ears would begin to hurt before we even came close.  We also saw some locals there doing wedding photos...IN the water!  IN their dress and tux!  Good times.

All in all and otherwise, it was a great vacation!  I am now officially in love with the Ocean and cannot wait to get back.  I'm seriously going through withdrawals.  I guess the only solution is to go to Hawaii next!  Hmmm.... if only I had a job so I can start saving up the mula....

I left a piece of my soul in Scotland

Time sure flies, huh?  I apologize to my many, many readers for my lack of blogging (that was sarcasm...ok, moving on....)  As soon as school let out, I took off and thought I might never come back!  But.... here I am.  I had an outstanding visit to Scotland where I spent some much needed time with sister Emily, brother Mike and baby Andrew.  Whom I love. A lot.  It took me three connections and 24 hours, but I finally did make it there.  My bro-in-law, Mike, picked me up and drove me home to their quaint little flat in Peter Culter (pronounced "Pee-ter Coo-ter).  Instead of inundating you with endless detail, I will condense my trip to few words and many pictures. In categories.

Category 1: Castles / Old Stuff

This was the gateway to the gardens of a castle called Cragevier.  All the castles were amazing.  Most of the castles we saw were between 13th to 16th century.  Yes, Andrew is on a lead.

This was the oldest we saw; Dunatar.  It's a ruined castle, which means only the old remaining pieces are left.  The crowned jewels were kept here at one point.  It must have been an amazing castle in it's time! (look closely.  It's on the cliff.)

Mike, Em and Andrew at Dunatar Castle.

Cragside (we stopped by England for a few days).  Built by Lord Armstrong, an amazingly brilliant and amazingly wealthy man.

View of the home from a bridge that spanned a small river.  All part of his estate.  Incredible.

The Wallington home (also in England).  Just think Jane Austin movie and there you have it.  Next time I live in 16th century England, this is where I will live.

So many castles, so little time.

Category 2: Nature / Beauty

This is the stuff God intended to make.  Once he had perfected his creating-things technique, he finished off Earth with this.

Category 3: Animals

For some reason, I have this thing where I love to be around, touch, feed animals.  So, naturally, I felt it necessary to stop at any available cow pasture, farm or horse stall to feed the animals it contained.

Hello, Cows..

This is Bessy. Naturally.

I'm soo happy!  So is Andrew.  You just don't know because you can't see his face.

Happy again!  Andrew is not.  You know because you can see his face.

Category 4: Me in front of stuff

In this category, you will notice me, in front of things.  Lots of Scottish / English wonders....and otherwise.

Oh my.  I really am a dork at heart, you know.  Maybe at brain, too.

"Oh, Em!  Take a picture of my sticking my head out of this window!  That will look reeeeaaaallll cool on Facebook!"

Hey.  It's me, or rather my giant head, above another awesome structure.

Here is some beauty.  And also there's cool trees and stuff around me....

"Maybe I could find a meadow to sleep in. Or a hollow log.  Or maybe a house of dwarfs.  I hear they are very hospitable!" - Giselle

Aw, Scottish Bagpipers.  The trip would not have been complete without them.

I liked these homes.  (are you getting sick of my mug yet? Hmm?)

Just a gateway.  A 900 yr. old gateway.

Classic.  I'm proud of myself.

Hadrian's wall.  I think this was my most favorite.  Simply because it was built in 600 bc.  Now THAT is one old wall.

Category 5:  The category with the rest of the pictures.

Isn't he adorable?  I can imagine he is trying to growl.

And now, so are we.  How embarrassing.

A little English village.  Rothbury.

Hexam Abbey.  Visited while in England.

The church goers used to have to pay for their seats.  The seats labeled "Free" were for the impoverished crowed.  Wow, that's the Christian spirit.

And this just needed to be sat upon.

I hope you have enjoyed this little (okay, not so little.  I may have gone overboard and swam ashore with the pictures) journey through my trip to Scotland/England.  It was a blast!  A hearty thanks to Em and Mike for letting me visit and taking me to see all these beautiful places!

Next adventure..... Mexico!

A Little Hoarse

omgoshonlytwoandahalfweeksleftofschool!!!!  *breath*  Ya, I'm the tiniest bit excited to be finished with this school year!  The past two and a half weeks have been nothing but testing for me + a lot of other stuff.  I do the accommodations (such as read the questions, give my students more time and more breaks) for the end of the year testing (CRT's if you will).  Seeing as I have students in all grades K-12, I feel like I have been talking for 50 hours straight.  Thus, I am a little hoarse.  But it's almost done!
In other news.... I have a new student. who just arrived.  at the END of the school year.  with a load of issues. and I don't know how to handle it.  Good thing I have aides!  There has only been a few things: biting, kicking, scratching, hitting, throwing and breaking everything/everyone. We won't go into that on here, I might say things I shouldn't.  Like I said, only 2 1/2 more weeks to endure!
In other, other news....I was thinking about all the many acronyms we SPED teachers have.  So here is a list.  Can you guess what any of them stand for?
CRT
WWJIII
KTEA
OWLS
CTONI
SCRAM
LRBI
BIP
FUBA
DRA
IEP
PLAAFP
NCLB
CTL
DWA
PA
SA
UUA
    Have fun with that!

The Tale of an Inexperienced Runner

**Warning:  This is me telling the tale in an attempted story-like version.  Enjoy**

I woke up early Saturday.  The sun was still resting behind the gloomy, gray morning clouds.  I stretched in bed for a moment, then put on my running clothes (laid out the night before) and my well-worn Nike's.  One look out the front door told me to grab a beanie and a jacket, and hurry up about it - it's cold!  As I layered up, I mentally prepared myself for the little light rain that would probably be falling during the 5k my friends and I were about to run.  I looked at the clock; 7:15 - time to go!  Lindsey, Danielle and I chatted as we maneuvered the roads to Center street in Provo, where the race would begin.  It was Danielle's first 5k, my second of the season, Lindsey's I-don't-know-how-many, but her one to check off for May.  Needless to say, we were all pretty excited.  As we approached the crowded street, my heart began to start the race without me!  Why am I nervous?  It's just a 5k!  The sight of so many 20 somethings all suited up for a race made my legs jittery as we rushed to pack in with the 8 minute-per-mile runners.  As soon as our feet stepped from grass to pavement, the race began!  Trying not to fall behind too quickly, but also ready to set a manageable pace, I quickly pushed through to an opening in the group.  Running makes my heart happy.

I set my pacing eyes on a woman in front of me in the bright purple zip-up.  She looked like a good runner - if I could keep just behind her, I was sure to have a good race.  The slight drizzle that had started early in the race slowly turned to large drops of rain.  Then, to corn snow and sleet.  Eek - not as fun as I thought it would be.  It's a good thing I had my thermal shirt and ear warmers!  I was feeling pretty great - pushing myself enough to hopefully set a PB (you know...personal best).  As we rounded another corner, past the Provo Town mall, my mind and my legs and my lungs knew I had about a quarter mile to go.  Up ahead I spied the '3 mile' marker.  Yippee!  Only about .17 miles to go! 

I began to push a little harder.  Who knew I had more adrenaline to give?  We turned yet another corner and my eyes left the ground to search out the finish line ahead.  As I strained to see beyond the crowd of runners all I could see was .... more runners.  Wait, what?  Um... how could my math be wrong?  Oh!  I bet the '3 miles' meant I'm on the 3rd mile, I thought.  Oh well, I guess I must be really pushing.  I sure am tired.  I kept up my pace and ran with little purple up ahead of me.  Soon, I saw another sign to my right.  The 4 mile marker.  Can't be long now!  I rounded another corner with the herd and my heart sank - cutting all adrenaline to my muscles and breathing organs.  Something was wrong.  My mind tried to figure out what had happened.  "How on earth did I miss the 5k turnoff?  Is a 5k a lot longer than I thought?  How am I going to find Lindsey and Danielle?  Are they even still in the race?  Should I just finish whatever the heck race I'm apparently in?"  Up came the 5 mile marker.  Done.  I stopped running, turned around, and flagged down the cop directing traffic. "Hey!  Hey!  Is this the 5k?  Where is the finish line for the 5k?"  "Sorry, I think this is the half-marathon."  "Oh. Thanks."  What the crap?!  Well, there is no way I was going to finish this race.  Not without a car or a bike or something...  Having no other choice, I crossed the street and began walking back to where I started, hoping to see the turn I missed or the very poorly marked alternate route for 5kers.  Pretty soon I noticed the marathon runners watching me as I passed them going the wrong direction.  Don't they have anything better to do than stare blankly at passersby who happen to also be wearing a race number? Oops.  They think I'm a loser.  I decided to take off my number, and jog back as if I were simply out for a run, of my own choice, somewhere in the boonies of Provo.
About 5 minutes into my decent, a man pulled up in a beat up Toyota.  "You ok?" He yelled out the window.  "Ya... I, I'm fine.  I was supposed be in the 5k."  "They started like 1/2 hour ago!?"  "Oh. OK - thanks sir."  I managed to say that last thank you without crying.  I was not happy.
Fortunately, not 5 minutes later I see Danielle and Lindsey walking towards me.  Instantly my gloom turned into hysterical embarrassment.  "What did we DO?"  As they shared with me their version of inner thoughts as they ran on... and on and on....we all laughed and concluded that we had begun the wrong race from the start.  Our exciting 5k had been on another course completely!  I laughed and guffawed at our horrible, hilarious mistake and we all trudged through the now frigid snow.  We passed a ding-dong man unloading goods at the local 7-11.  As we walked by he yelled, "Aren't you going the wrong way?" "Yes." "Oh.  Want a doughnut?"  "No."   We kept laughing and walking and passed a woman changing the trash in front of the gas station.  "Ha!"  she cackled, "Cheaters, eh?"  More laughter and also some glares came from our end to her and her smelly garbage.  We finally made it to Lyndsey's sister's home, where we planned to have her take us back to the start and return the shoe clips that kept track of us as we wandered who-knows-where around Provo. 
And this was the end.  I sure enjoy a good race, and that was as good as they come!