Spring Break!

I was blessed to be able to go to Scotland over my Spring Break last week. My sweet parents made it possible for me to go over one more time to spend time with Holly, Luke, and little Isaiah. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad!

The trip started a little rocky-- after arriving in Edinburgh to find that our luggage was still in Denver, scraping the rental car, and someone (who will remain nameless :) ) filled the regular gas tank with diesel fuel, we were anxious to get into St. Andrews and get settled. Once we finally got into St. Andrews, everything was wonderful. We stayed in a cute little flat that is a 5 minute walk from my sister's flat. We had a wonderful time playing with Isaiah, eating scones, playing with Isaiah, walking around the quaint little town, playing with Isaiah, having High Tea at the Old Course Hotel, and playing with Isaiah! I love my little nephew! He is at such a fun age, and you can see the wheels constantly turning in his mind. It's also really fun to see my sister and brother-in-law be parents. They are doing such a great job and are training up a sweet little boy. Here are some pics from the trip:

Cute "wee" little nephew!

We were visiting an old cathedral, and Isaiah found little statues just his size!

Isaiah LOVES Spot the Dog! When the grandparents saw a window full of Spots, they couldn't resist! As you can see, Isaiah is one happy boy!

My class is doing Flat Stanley right now. We had fun showing mine around Scotland.

My mom took Holly and I for high tea at the Old Course Hotel.

Isaiah's first Easter-egg hunt. :)

Kids Say the Silliest Things!

One reason I love my job is that the kids keep me laughing every day. Sometimes I have to turn around and face the whiteboard to not show them that I am holding back the giggles. This year I am trying to write down some of the funny things they say and do because I always forget! I hope you get a laugh out of them, too!

1. David came into visit my class for the first time. I asked the kids if he looked like they thought he would. The students all said, "No". I asked, "What did you think he'd look like?" One of the students replied, "I thought he'd look rich!"

2. When trying to drag the truth out of a student, I was asking him if something that another student did to him could have possibly been an accident. He finally replied, "I remember! It was half on accident and half on purpose, and they morphed together!"

3. When discussing what heirlooms our great-grandparents passed onto us before they passed away, one student said, "It was from my grandma. She passed out too."

4. After watching an introduction video on magnets, one of my very enthusiastic students was truly crying with excitement about magnets when I turned the lights back on.

5. Student: What is the name of this state?
Me: Pennsylvania
Student: Oh, that's where they make pencils!

6. Try to decode this phrase that a student wrote: akshiwol vertion of phonix

7. As a student was reading the lunch choices for the day, he said, "Oh, I always thought that sandwich was girl cheese".

There's never a dull moment as a teacher!

Remember this funny stuff from P-dine?!?! I just found this on my computer and am loving it all over again!

Feliz Navidad

Our family just got back from a week in Mexico over Christmas - 21 people in all! It was great to be together and enjoy the beach and sun while Denver was covered in snow.

We had some pretty sweet accommodations thanks to Russ and Vicki:

We both had a great time the first day on our Canopy Tour in the jungle just outside of Puerto Vallarta. 400 ft zip lines from treetop to treetop was a fantastic thrill.

Shannon had a chance to do one of her life-long dreams: swim with dolphins. She got to spend an hour in the water with a baby dolphin - doing tricks, feeding it, riding on it, etc. It was everything she had hoped it would be.

Meanwhile, David spent some time on the golf course perfecting his slice and hook.

The sun was bright and Shannon is soooo tan now...we almost left her there to be with her peeps. It was another great Christmas in Mexico!

A great view from the hotel balcony.

SOLD!!

That didn't take long! After exactly three weeks to the day, an amazing offer came in on our house! The only catch was that we had to be out of it in exactly 10 days. WOW. So, the last few days have been crazy with packing up our lives into boxes and making plans to move in with the fam. Hopefully we'll find our next home in just a few weeks, but in the mean time we'll have some good quality time with families as the tentative plan is to stay three weeks with Shannon's parents and then several more with my parents (if needed). How great is it to have two sets of loving families to take care of us when needed!

We are just so blessed to have sold our house so quickly and for such a great price in this buyers market. We now have a great opportunity to get a lot of value with the next place we move into. God is good!

Since college, Shannon's fashion sense has slipped a bit...

Actually, tomorrow is Pioneer day for the 2nd graders her school.

On the Market

We've decided it's finally time to put our first little townhouse on the market and find something bigger to move into. Here in Denver (as with much of the rest of the country), the sub prime crunch has forced a lot of people out of the homes they are in to either downsize or file for bankruptcy. That's where I like to step in and take advantage!! Not really, but this is a great time to buy as there is so much inventory out there and the prices are dropping every day. If we are lucky enough to get out of our house at a decent price, we'll be able to upgrade fairly easily....at least that is our thought process.

So, we officially put our house on the market on Monday, but the websites didn't have our house up until Wednesday/Thursday. Some person took a look at our place when it first hit the market on Monday -- I'm thinking it was some savvy investor wanting first dibs on everything that comes out. Anyway, in about 2 hours we'll have our first "real" showing and I need to get out and clear the leaves from my lawn before they get here. Pray for us!

Here are the links to our Visual Tour and some pics:
Visual Tour
Realtor.com