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.

Home for Thanksgiving...

Due to Tank being 14 years old (I can't believe my little mutt is THAT old) I refuse to fly him. He doesn't see or hear very well and he has been known to put himself into a complete panic attack - no joke. We have sedatives for him but I just couldn't bare to be sitting in the airplane knowing that he's either below me in the loud, dark cargo area or trapped in a tiny cage shoved under my seat where he cannot be taken out. It'd freak him out... and me too. For that reason, we drive. Day one we drive to Albuquerque and spend the night. Day two we drive into Utah. It's a long, long drive. It's a good thing Ken and I are good traveling companions.

Tank was king of the car. He was a perfect puppy and was happy to just cuddle up, be held, and enjoy the ride.

We didn't know how eventful our drive would be. We got stuck in a pretty bad snowstorm that went from Texas, to New Mexico, and Colorado. The more we drove, the more the storm kept up with us.

Yep. This is Texas.

 

New Mexico.

And this is driving into Utah. We took the new car and discovered that it was fine, but definitely doesn't have tires for snow and ice. We drove a lot of the first day pretty slowly. I have never seen so many traffic accidents in my life! A lot of them were semi-trucks that had rolled and wrecked. We saw a lot of slide offs and fender benders. The more we saw, the slower we drove. We were glad we were kept safe.

Tank was clueless about the weather. He was just happy to be with his people.

We went to my brother Brian's house on Monday. My mom and dad came with us. Taking my dad places is getting to be a bigger deal these days. His Parkinson's is getting worse and he isn't very stable. He shuffles rather than walks, and has no energy to really walk anywhere. The cane is a new addition since we moved to Texas. It was hard to see - the changes in him in the last 4 months.

Ahhh... it was so good to see the mountains again! I have missed my mountains!!

Home wouldn't be home without going to Gardner Village - all decorated for Christmas!

I was so happy to see the work being done on my parent's house. They're adding onto the exterior and remodeling the interior to accommodate my dad's declining health - they're fighting it the best way they can!

They're making their bedroom larger for wheelchairs and adding on a hospital bathroom. They're also moving the laundry room upstairs, making all of the hallways and doorways wide (for a wheelchair), moving closets, etc. They're basically making it their own personal rest home/ care center and I couldn't be happier!! It's the home they brought me home from the hospital to and the home I hope they stay in until the day they take their last breaths. I'm glad they're modifying it for them - isn't that what makes it home? That makes it even more special to me. All of my childhood was at that home!

My contributions to the Thanksgiving dinner... one of the turkeys (it's uncooked here in case you're wondering why it looks so gross)

and my infamous green bean casserole - which is really 2 pounds of mushrooms, 2 large cans of french fried onions, and 1 can of green beans. Ha ha! Don't worry. My whole family mocks it but they all love it!

My dad wasn't having a very good day on Thanksgiving. He did eat at the dinner table with us but then spent the rest of the day in his chair. I like the head to toe blue plaid. It's fun!

We had to leave Utah much too soon. Ken had classes/finals and I have a small commitment called teaching. It wasn't very hard to leave because I knew we'd be back in less than a month.

You want to know the worst thing about long drives? When two semi-trucks sit side by side on the road both going about the same speed. You're stuck.

Welcome to Texas.

Tank was one happy sleeping camper. See that tongue? Weird.

I'm excited to be sleeping in Albuquerque again one week from tonight - it means we're heading home!! This time we get to stay even longer. Best Christmas present ever!!

Dear Kid,

There is nothing on earth more important to me than my family. It's in my genes. Your grandma and grandpa Chidester raised me that way and I know that your grandma and grandpa Adams feel the same way. Hopefully that is something that will run through your veins as well. Just so you know, Grandpa Chidester hasn't always been sick, but even superheroes get a little under the weather. He still has super powers, though. The love that he shows to his wife, kids and their spouses, and grandkids is by far the most powerful thing about him. And having lived with it firsthand I can tell you that it is super! Just know that without your family you won't get very far in life. God put us into families for a reason. They successfully get us through this life and help us return to Him. It's the plan. I am who I am because of my parents, and hopefully that's a good thing. Always love your family, always. 

Love,

Mom

As of late...

It's Tuesday night.

The house is quiet, Tank's asleep on my lap and I'm all alone. Ken has school until 10:00 p.m. tonight. I'm going to admit that having a quiet night every week is lovely. I'm not trying to say anything bad about Ken, but it is nice to have the house and my thoughts to myself.

This post is going to be random. Really random. Here are a few things that have been running through my mind lately.

Aside from missing my family like crazy, I'm missing the fall weather. I really am. My body tells me that fall is here but Texas is telling me otherwise. I miss the orange and red crunchy leaves, pepperminty cool air (the kind that burns your nose it's so cold), random storms that bring snowflakes, and frost on the grass. I miss nature making her spectacular change, putting on a colorful show while slowly turning into a dormant winter. I just miss it.

Along those lines, I REALLY want to decorate but

a. it doesn't feel like fall

b. all of my decorations are in Utah

c. not much money to buy new decorations

d. refer back to a

I'm a little homesick so I'll be moving on...

Have you tried this

or these?

Pumpkin spice cream cheese is like spreading pumpkin pie onto a bagel. I highly recommend it, if you like pumpkin. It sounds gross and looks gross but it's delicious! And pumpkin pie Pop-Tarts? YUM! I'm not a Pop-Tart person (Ken is, though) but these are pretty good. It's probably a very good thing that they're 'limited edition' or I'd be in big trouble.

I just finished reading The Tale of Despereaux for the tenth or eleventh time - not sure which. I love this book. I love the quotes and thoughts about broken hearts, bravery, love, and dreams. It's a good read if you haven't read it before.

I lost 10 pounds a few weeks ago. Yep. And what happened then? Life got extra stressful and I fell off the wagon. ARGH! Can someone explain to me why I would suddenly become unmotivated after losing 1/10 of 100 pounds? (I'm thinking big here) It's so frustrating! I need to get back on the wagon and reclaim my motivation - and get rid of the pumpkin cream cheese and Pop-Tarts, I know.

Brace yourself for this one.

I have become a little 'obsessed' with ticks.

Bugs.

Blood sucking bugs.

We don't have them crawling in the grass in Utah but in Texas we have to keep tick medicine on Tank. I'm one of those weirdos that will spend hours on the computer researching things - like ticks. I'm officially grossed out but I can't get it out of my mind. These nasty little bugs feed on the blood of animals and humans. They eat until they puff up like this...

SO GROSS!!

And even worse... look at the ticks in this dog's ear!! His ear is completely full of ticks - and this is one of the better pictures I found. Ewwww...

Oh I could post a thousand more tick pictures from the internet but I won't. Isn't it the grossest thing ever? Google it and look at the images. It's foul! Ticks can also have a life span of 2 years. Blech! It gives me nightmares, seriously. I'm constantly checking Tank's ears for ticks. I'm scratching my arms as I'm typing this...

Is anyone familiar with this crazy song? You can watch it on YouTube. It's harmless. No swearing or nudity. It's a weird song from some European band. The eternal question - what DOES the fox say. My fellow teachers are obsessed with it and so are my students. Who comes up with this stuff? It has made me laugh a ton this past week though.

This is my quote for the week. Giving up on things in general feels pretty good right now. I just feel blah. I'm really trying to cling to the little light of hope and keep trying it one more time, one more day. It will all work out, right?

Ummmm... don't Google search ticks. Just don't do it. Google search flower or ponies - but not flowers or ponies covered in ticks.

We made it to Texas!

 We headed out of Utah on July 31st. My two brothers Clint and Brian came along with us to help drive and unload. The trip from our Utah house to the Texas house took just under 20 hours. It was a lot of sitting. We had Tank in tow as well. He's never been in a car for that long and I was worried he would panic but he did really well overall.

Here we are driving through southern Utah.

I switched off driving with him a few times. We had a great time visiting and with each other.

More of the view.

More of the view.

Being in Utah = orange cones and no one working on anything.

We did pass by some beautiful scenery.

Here I am riding with my older brother Clint. He and I had some good chats too.

We all stayed in Albuquerque the first night. Ken and I had this wonderful view from our hotel room. It cracked me up!

 Tank did pretty good in our hotel room. He was a little bit confused with what was going on but stuck to Ken like glue.

After leaving Albuquerque we continued driving on to Texas. When Clint found out we were going to pass through Amarillo, he wanted to stop for lunch at a steakhouse he had heard about. He'd seen a program on t.v. about this place and really wanted to stop. So Clint, Brian and Ken all ate at The Big Texan.

Since I absolutely refuse to ever leave Tank in the car with no air conditioning, he and I spent a little one on one time together for lunch.

Here we are sharing our Sonic food together.

After lunch we all met back up and continued to head on toward our new home. Tank was doing SO WELL when all of a sudden I felt something hot. Yep. He peed all over me. It's hard to see in this picture but I had to change EVERYTHING except for my bra. Too much information but it's true.

We all stopped at a Wal-Mart so I could make a quick change of clothes and get back on the road. Here are Ken and Tank navigating our drive.

We got in late to the house and Clint and I ran to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things. We all crashed about 2:30 a.m. and took a little nap because a few people from our new ward came at 8:00 a.m. to help us unload. We were exhausted and hot but we were grateful for the help!

Everything got brought into the house.

We also went over and unloaded everything into my new classroom. I've got to find a different route than how the GPS took us or I'm going to go insane from all of the construction on the freeway. I'm afraid a lot my classroom things will be coming back home because my room is super tiny compared to my classroom in Utah. I'm not sure how I'm going to get situated at school or where I am going to put anything. One more concern on my plate.

Clint and Brian flew home on Friday. It was a super quick trip for them but we would have died without them!

We tried to go to church today. We got up, got ready, got in the car and programmed the address to the chapel into our GPS. It's only 6 miles away but after being led all over the place for an hour with no church in sight and me in tears, we finally went home. The GPS was having us make u-turns on the freeway. We ended up making big circles. The address we were given is wrong. I am really disappointed we didn't make it today. We'll see if we can find the chapel sometime this week so we can be there next Sunday.

We're still in the process of getting everything unpacked. I'll post pictures when things are all in their place. I'm hoping my shell shock wears off and that I can feel settled. Right now EVERYTHING is super overwhelming. Ken is a trooper and is non stop unpacking. As you can tell, I'm blogging. Yep. I can't face it right now.