Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Never Ending Vacation...next stop Yellowstone!

After the cruise and Disneyland, us and T&A went to Yellowstone with Tyler's dad, Paul.  We also stopped by Idaho for a few days to visit Grandma & Grandpa Gregory. 

Bison





Hot pots

Old Faithful

Exhausted after waking up early





we stayed in this cabin Thursday night

Henry's Lake



The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone


Me running to the bathroom (I did this at least once an hour)



Disneyland

After the cruise, we went with Tyler's family to Disneyland.  It had been quite a while since Tyler and I had been, and it did not fail.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and we were continually getting FastPasses so we didn't wait in too many lines.
on the tram

waiting in line for "Star Tours"


Tower of Terror

in line for Indiana Jones

these 4 went on Splash Mountain while Lisa & I got lunch for everybody


Toy Story ride


instead of dinner, we got HUGE ice cream cones, which were DELICIOUS



Teacups were a bad idea...

Thunder Mountain

Cruise

For graduation, my parents, Tyler's parents, Tiersh/Josh, Tanner & Allie, 2 other couples (friends of my parents), and Ty & Me went on a cruise to the Mexican Riveria.  It was Sunday to Sunday, and was filled with the sun, beach, the spa, snorkeling, parasailing, boat rides, etc.  It was a blast, and nobody wanted to get off the boat when it was done.
14 people's luggage

Getting ready for the Spa! (we spent at least an hour or 2 at the spa everyday)

At dinner


Trying on hats

First formal night


Tyler & Tanner parasailing

On the boat to go snorkeling/hiking


Snorkeling...it took me a while to get out there


On our hike to the waterfall


Eating "seveche"

Our boat tour guide, Sammy

2nd Formal Night

Cute Kids

 My students all drew pictures of me during their art class, and they were pretty funny.  Then, to make it better they put them all around the school (as well as every other teacher).  Next to the drawings, they put a real picture of me, with a short description of me (written by the kids).
This is at our "Wax Museum." Each kid dressed up as a different historical figure, and acted like them all day.
This was right after they "surprised" me for my birthday.

Summer of Moves

This summer has been full of goodbyes.  I've said goodbye to my students, teachers I work with, close friends, and family.  Saying goodbye to my students wasn't so difficult on the last day of school, but now 3 weeks later, I feel so empty without them.  They were my life for a whole year.  I felt like a mother to them, and it makes me sad to think that I won't see most of them ever again.  I promised I would visit if I'm ever in town during a school day, but it's just not the same as being them everyday.  Missing them also reminds me of how much I enjoyed teaching this year.  Teaching is a very satisfying and rewarding job.  I enjoyed watching my students grow each day, and learn new things.  I also enjoyed learning from my students.  I can't even tell you how many times I learned something from a student.  Who knew a 10 or 11 year old could teach you so much?  
Last night we said goodbye to some of our best friends, Michelle & Trevor.  We've known them through our dating and now through our entire marriage.  They've been such great friends, and have always been extremely easy to get along with, and share a lot of our same hobbies.  We will definitely miss being able to call them on a Friday night to play our favorite, "Hand and Foot," and more importantly seeing our "godson," Luke.
We're moving 2 weeks from Saturday, which means we will have to say goodbye to all of our family here in UT.  Tyler's family has been great to live by for the last 3 years, and we will definitely miss have immediate family so close.  It's also been a blessing to live by Tiersha & Josh and Tanner & Allie.  Luckily T&J will be by my parents so we'll see them often, but T&A are moving to the east coast for med school, which means we'll probably only see them during school breaks.  
I hope AZ has great friends in store for us b/c we're saying goodbye to so many wonderful people.  We're excited to start a new chapter, and have a change of scenery.  To all of our UT friends/family, stay in touch :)