A little bit of catching up...

Oh my poor, poor neglected blog. 

I have to be honest... blogging has felt incredibly overwhelming to me lately so it hasn't been happening. I need to get back on it because it's really the only journaling I do and it's fun to let family and friends see what we're up to. My camera is in my classroom right now so I'm going to catch up on a few things thanks to a few cell phone pictures I have. 

Ken had his final recital for his Master's degree in April. It was at St. Mark's Cathedral in Salt Lake. He did a great job and was relieved once it was over. He'd been practicing his head off and I was glad to see him finish as well. Here he is in the Cathedral with his two best friends and fellow organists Melanie and Zach. I think Ken would have gone crazy without them!

We had some weird weather here in Utah. I took this picture by the freeway. It had frozen but there wasn't and snow. It had rained and frozen in the shrubs. Weird.

My teaching job was officially posted and up for grabs the beginning of April. See where it says 17. Grade 1 (218)? Yep. That's me. I cried when I saw it. I am so sad to leave my classroom, coworkers, past students, community and professional life. It's truly a feeling that I've never known before and I'm not coping well with it. It feels devastating.

I did butterflies with my students again this year. Here we are watching them closely waiting to see them hatch. We were really fortunate and got to see 4 out of the 5 hatch right in front of our eyes. Super cool.

This year we also got to see something I've never been able to catch before - the caterpillars actually turning. It was so cool! It happens really quickly. They basically "melt" from a fuzzy caterpillar to a chrysalis. Here's one mid "melt". Pretty cool.

My allergies have been AWFUL! My eyes are so itchy all of the time no matter how much allergy medication I take or eye drops I use. Ken and I had gone out to dinner and I had had it! I rubbed my eyes until they felt better and then spent the rest of dinner looking like the picture below. I didn't even care about it. My eyes felt a lot better regardless of what people were thinking.

Wahoo, wahoo! My car was officially paid off this week! I have the title and am glad to have no loans. Ken reminded me that I not only paid off the car but I also paid off my kitchen since I borrowed $7500.00 against my car when my house flooded. So yeah... in 4 years I paid off a car and a kitchen. I'm just glad it's one less thing to worry about. Other than our house, we are debt free! Love it!

Like I said, my camera is in my classroom so there are a lot of pictures not on this post. I'll get them on in the next week or so. Here are a few other things that have been going on in our lives...

• Ken graduated from BYU with his Master's Degree in Organ Performance. It was a long 2 years but he worked really hard and pulled 4.0's. A HUGE thanks to my mom and dad and Ken's mom and dad for coming to support us at his graduation.

• After months of jumping through hoops and red tape, I am officially licensed in the state of Texas to teach on a one year provisional contract. I have one year to retake and pass all of my teaching exams under the Texas state code. They're not too keen on anything not from their state so it's been a challenge. I've got about 14 applications in right now so we'll see if I can get hired somewhere. The state office of education down there warned me that a lot of principals don't hire on a one year contract so we'll see what happens. I feel like I'm doing all I can in that area.

• On Wednesday I was going to file for divorce but then went and bought a few skirts instead. Ha ha! Welcome to my crazy world. I feel like I'm trying to STILL sort out my emotions with this upcoming move to Texas. Sometimes I feel like Ken would be a lot better off without me in tow and that I should just stay put. I'm trying to pack up my classroom a little bit at a time and I'm doing really good at it if I say so myself. Every so often, however, I get overwhelmed and panic. Crazy things run through my mind and I decide I'm not going anywhere. Then I call Ken on the phone and unfairly unload on him. I feel like I'm doing the best I can. He's a trooper and holding us together right now. 

• School ends this Thursday. I'm teaching summer school until July 3rd. The money is good (we can use it right now) and it gives me more time to move out of my classroom. Plus, I love to teach!

That's all for now - a few little things going on in our lives. I'll get my camera back home and post some more. Until then...