Accidental trip down Memory Lane...

Gah!!!

I made the biggest mistake of getting on my blog to look for something and ended up taking an unexpected trip down Memory Lane. Sooo many emotions... my dad, my former husband, and my doggy Tank. I love and miss each of these so much! I'm SO GRATEFUL to have pictures and posts about all three of these aspects of my life but wow... a lot of feelings have resurfaced. Whew! 

Back to Blogger...

My students are taking a math test right now. My classroom is silent. I'm caught up on all of my grading and emails to parents so I decided to visit my blog. It's been a long time since I've visited. It's been over a year since I've blogged anything and I'm not even sure people still blog or even read them. I need to get mine published into a little book full of stories, memories, and pictures.

So much has changed since I last visited my blog. In a nutshell my beloved dog of 17 years died, my incredible-beyond-words father of 42 years died, and my marriage of 6 1/2 years has died. That's a lot of change in just 7 short months. My dog was old, my dad was sick, and my marriage was in trouble from day one. Even though everything has its reasons for happening, it's still a lot to deal with when it does finally happen.

So now it's just me. Just Kristina. I got another puppy and named him Digger. He's half Yorkie so he reminds me a little of Tank. Things with my dad's passing has mostly settled, although my mom is still dealing with attorneys over his estate. You can't just leave this world - it doesn't work that way. You own things? Have a will? Have any money? It takes some serious paperwork to exit this planet. Life has mostly settled back to a new normal for me without my dad. I miss him. The dissolution of my marriage won't be final for another two months or so - sometime in April. I filed - that part was my doing. I can't control the marital winds that have been blowing at me for all these years so I finally had to adjust my sails which is taking me somewhere else. I don't know where. I miss my husband. I miss what I thought we'd have but never did. I miss having hope - it's hard to wait for something you know might never happen but it's even harder to give up when it's all you wanted.

A lot of change. A different me. I've got a lot of updating to do - memories and experiences to blog about so I don't forget them. So I guess this begins a new chapter of me.

Loved!

I had to blog this before I call it a night. I love it too much to want to forget it!

Random dad thoughts...

My dad is alive. He's still here. He's not himself, really. His body has turned on him in a very unfair and cruel way. He's not able to do the things he wants to do and should be able to do at his age. He's only 70. He's not going to live forever and will pass away before his time - even though it will be his time. We all exit this life when it's our time.

Part of me hopes that we have him with us this time next year. I'm selfish and I want that for me. The other part of me just wants him to be relieved of a life where he is confined to a body that he shouldn't have to live within. I have thoughts about death a lot lately. A lot. Not my death necessarily, but the death of my dad. I hate that death is on my mind so much of the time. If he wasn't sick, I certainly wouldn't think about death anywhere near the amount I do. But he is incurably sick. And I do think about it. Too much.

I have three thoughts that I continually come back to.

1. I wonder if I will be able to handle it all as well as I think I will when it actually happens. I know it's coming, and in some ways I think I am prepared, but I'm not sure how I'll actually react when it actually does. I don't think I know myself quite as well as I think I do. Can anyone REALLY prepare for it?

2. I wonder if I'll doubt in God or in a heaven when that moment comes. Right now, I'm so absolutely sure what awaits us all in the afterlife but when someone I love so much finally takes a step out of this world and into the next, am I going to doubt what happens? Having not experienced that before, I'm so worried that I will. Not worried, terrified.

3. But my biggest worry is that the world will just feel different. I can't imagine being on this planet without my dad. I think the world will just feel different with him not in it. Driving in my car, sitting alone in my house, teaching school, grocery shopping - I think it will just feel different knowing that such a force is no longer on the earth.

These are my random thoughts. Depressing, I know. I hate that these kinds of thoughts have already set up shop in my head. Maybe it's just human nature as we face the unknown coming at us at an uncertain speed?

2015 is gone and 2016 is here!

I haven't been on my blog in a very long time. I decided to log in tonight scroll through past blog posts. I miss blogging! I miss having somewhere to jot down my thoughts. I think I need to get back to documenting the little things that happen in my life. Here is an incredibly brief catch up of 2015.

I left Texas. I was there for 2 years and am grateful for the experiences I had there BUT it was time for me to come home. I wasn't doing well there. I brought all of my personal things and classroom back with me which filled up a U-Haul. I have way too much stuff.

My brother Clint flew out to help us pack and help drive the moving truck so Ken wasn't driving the entire time.

Goodbye Beetle Nut Lane!

Ahhhh.... you have no idea how much I missed my Utah mountains while I lived in Texas. This picture was taken from the playground where I teach. Gorgeous!

Ken lives in Teas and I live in Utah. It works. We text, talk, and FaceTime. Not every day, but enough.

Did I tell you how much I missed my mountains?

My older brother Clint got married in July. He married a girl named Olea and we absolutely ADORE her!

Clint has two sons and two daughters and Olea has three sons. Presto! A family of nine. Holy cow, nine! I gained three new nephews who I love!

I got a new washer and dryer this summer. Seriously, it was a highlight! I've never owned a new washer or a new dryer. New appliances are always fun!

I was beyond blessed to be able to return to my former district and beloved elementary school that I taught at prior to moving to Texas. My new adventure this year was taking on teaching 6th grade. I've taught 1st and 3rd and was pretty apprehensive to teach 6th. I am loving it!

This blurry picture is my 6th grade team on Halloween. I truly love these ladies!

I had my first car accident on my way to school on the 2nd day. What a way to begin the school year. It was a scary experience, I won't lie. The little green car plowed through the intersection and ran a red light, totaling both of our cars. Her fault, not mine.

One of my students, whose parent had seen the accident, made me a "crash cake." I thought it was adorable! She even got the car colors right. It was cute and delicious!

I loved my Toyota Camry that was totaled. I still miss that car. I replaced it with a new 2015 Toyota Avalon. It's a really nice car, but I'm not in love with it yet. I'll get there, I'm sure.

2015 was a big year with my dad. He went downhill at an incredible speed and we moved him to a care center in September. It's not what any of us wanted and many, many tears have been shed - and still continue to be shed. My rock-solid dad is quickly deteriorating and I am afraid that 2016 will bring many more tears. On the upside, it has taken away some big time stress for my mom to not have him at home. She doesn't have to worry about certain things and she is actually able to sleep.

Since my dad is completely immobile he wasn't able to come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. He was sad and upset but understands the situation. We brought the party to him. Here is a family picture with everyone from December.

Little Tank turned 16 years old in 2015 - I took this picture of him today. He is deaf, blind, and walks in circles a lot. He is old but his little body still works as good as ever (kidneys, heart, etc.) and he isn't in any pain so he and I are continually adjusting to his needs. I just can't put him down right now. I need my furry little guy more than ever!

And those mountains!!

2015 was a year with a lot of change. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't handle change well. I'm still getting through things day by day and am so happy to be back in Utah, at my school, and with my family. I am grateful for the blessings I have and a Heavenly Father who is very mindful of what is going on in my life.

Upcoming Project...

I swear I border on being a hoarder. It might be in my genes. My paternal grandmother kept everything. That might have been a generational thing though. I love shopping on clearance and feel like I've won some sort of a game - I'm weird like that. I recently procured one more thing that I don't need but somehow couldn't pass up. There was a lady who lives in our development that was moving and had several things for sale that she sent out in an email the entire HOA. To make a long story short, after a week, anything that wasn't sold she said she would take $25.00 for.

What did I buy?
A Lane cedar chest.
Yep.

It's nothing fancy but it is in decent shape and it's solid wood. The top is upholstered in a blue fabric that has seen much better days but re-upholstery is a fairly easy fix - well, a fairly easy fix for the person I pay to do it. Ha ha!

It's sitting in the formal dining room right now and the wood just so happens to match the furniture that belongs to Ken's parents. It's not really in the way but is just kind of sitting there until I decide what to do.

I kind of want to try my hand at refinishing it and making it "in style" - whatever that is. I'm not really a trendy person but I found these two pictures on the internet of refinished cedar chests and LOVE them both.

I would take the hardware off of mine and make it more plain and then go and junk it up with the wood embellishments that can be glued on.

See how ADORABLE these wood embellishment things are ?!?!

We'll see what I end up doing with my cedar chest. Used ones sell on the internet for $150.00-$300.00 Mine is nowhere near worth that, I'm sure. But I am also sure that it is worth the $25.00 I paid for it.

Wish me well on deciding what to do with it and then actually doing it!

Dinner with the Pirate...

My brother Brian is a pilot. We sometimes call him a Pirate. It's a long story that stems from an Asian tourist asking Brian if he was his "pirate" for the flight - he meant to say "pilot" but you know how the letter sounds don't always come out like they should. We've gotten years and years worth of laughs out of that one! Anyway, Brian had an overnight layover in Dallas on Monday. We picked him up from his hotel just before 8:00 p.m. and took him out to dinner. We found an Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant (yummy, yum, yum!) very near the airport. Brian hadn't eaten there before and ended up really liking it. Although we had just seen Brian, his wife Denise and their 4 children the previous week when we were in Utah, it was GREAT to see him again!

Chips and salsa... and a really happy face. He kept pulling that "annoyed" look for the camera, but he wasn't annoyed. Must be his pirate face.

Speaking of faces, I can never get this guy to smile. He either makes his face look as ugly possible or he just looks grumpy. Those are my two options when I aim a camera his way.

Dinner! Notice their two faces... what in the world?! By the looks of those two you would think we had a terrible time. 

Ahhh... there's a smile! The picture is blurry but Brian, Ken, and I all had a really great dinner together.

I wish he had more overnight layovers in Dallas because the hotel that they put the flight crew in is only about 15 minutes from our house. I could get very used to having dinner with him several times a month!

Randomness...

I was going through the pictures on my phone and came across a few random pictures.

Fire ants hurt and Texas has a lot of them. I got bit by one on my pinky finger and holy cow, did it hurt! It also took a week to go away. Those little buggers have quite the bite! I also got bit on my toe during a fire drill at school. Argh!! You can't feel them until it's too late.

Ken somehow came down with swimmer's ear. He never gets really sick and never complains that much if he does but this one just about did him in. His entire ear canal closed off and his face got super puffy. I must admit, it looked painful. They put a wick in his ear (that's the white thing in the picture) to try and get some medicine soaked in. I'm not really sure that worked either. He was in a lot of pain. I kept teasing him that he had fungus growing in his ears and was going to sprout mushrooms. He didn't appreciate it... and still doesn't because I may or may not still tease him about it.

 Ha, ha, ha!! Saute those mushrooms up and you've got something yummy!

I had a really disturbing experience in my classroom last month. Actually, it continues to disturb me. Long, long, long story short I had a student who drew several of these pictures for other students.

"Jeff the Killer" is an internet phenomenon, much like Slender Man - if you've heard anything about that. I was completely unaware Jeff the Killer even existed. Google it if you want to but it's seriously disturbing and the pictures are super creepy. I have a student that is obsessed with him. When I found these pictures I turned them over to my principal and school counselor. We have since found out that the student was introduced to Jeff the Killer by another student at a previous school they attended. They have also tried to commit suicide several times, five times to be exact, all thanks to their Jeff the Killer research. The student is currently getting help but it is so scary to me! I teach 3rd grade, THIRD GRADE!! These kids are way too young to have problems like this.

We also lost all of our favorite Elders.

This is Elder Nanney and Elder Petersen.

This is Elder Petersen and Elder Price.

They took the Sisters out of our ward and put more Elders in. Then after a few tranfers, they took the Elders out and put in two brand new Elders, thanks to some other issues in the mission. Sigh. Now we have a new set of Elders to get to know (and we will love them, I'm sure) but we miss seeing those favorite smiling faces. The missionaries have become a big part of our life here in Texas. We're lucky to be able to interact with them and have them in our home.

A few end of 2014 things...

I didn't take very many pictures over the Christmas break. I wish I would have taken more. But here is a little catch up on what happened the last few weeks of December...

On New Year's Eve, my older brother Clint got engaged. I had a feeling he was going to do it but he wouldn't talk about it with me. He's been dating Olea for about 3 years. She has 3 boys so once they are married they'll have 7 kids together. Wow. 7. That will be a big adjustment for everyone. We REALLY like Olea. She is good for my brother and truly loves him. They don't have a date set yet but I'm glad they're planning a wedding.

Clint chose the ring all by himself. It is beautiful!

I didn't decorate much in Texas. I put a few things on the mantle. I found the 'Believe' banner at JoAnn's Crafts and Fabrics. The paper on it is all layered and I thought it was so cute. I picked it up on clearance for $3.00. Ken doesn't like the whole banner look but I do. He was a good sport and even helped me get it centered.

I also made Snowman Soup for my students. When I taught in Utah, I bought gifts for all of my students but the other teachers at my school in Texas don't do that so I don't feel like I can.

I put together a little bag for each student. There was a little poem on the back too. I felt like it was something I could give them that wasn't too "gifty".

We did Secret Santa at work again this year. Last year I had a teacher on my team and I got a different teacher on my team this year. I gave her the worst gifts all week long - we do one gift each day so I made sure to annoy her with stupid dollar stuff from Wal-Mart. She was mad! We eat lunch as a team so it was fun to hear her complain about her Secret Santa during lunch. Everyone felt sorry for her that she had such a terrible Secret Santa. I got her dud gifts because if I gave her what I had for her she would have known it was from me. On the last day before the break, I took my real gift into her. She was surprised (and embarrassed from having complained so much) that it was me. It was a really fun way to do a Secret Santa. Here's her REAL gift... stickers, treats, notepads, a DJ Inkers clip art disc, and other things she had on her list.

Ken put up the Christmas tree in Utah before we left from Thanksgiving. That way when we got to Utah on December 23rd, the tree was waiting for us. Ken did a great job on the tree!!

We had a great time in Utah and were able to see Ken's family, my family and a few friends (not as many as I would have liked). We woke up to a white Christmas (yay!) and had no problems on the drive to or from Utah. We were so glad to be home and be with our family for the holidays!