My welcoming commitee!

Meet my little friend! I was anticipating a little bit of a learning curve when we moved to Austin beings as I have never lived further south than Denver my whole life but I was not expecting it to come so soon. As I was unpacking I thought I saw a little plastic toy lizard in one of the boxes. I thought this was odd because I don't remember packing a lizard. I reached down to pick it up and it MOVED!!! Yup I had a gecko in my house. The only place I've seen these things are in the pet store. Anyways, I took him out to the balcony and set him free.

Things I learned from driving a Uhaul!

I know the sticker on the side of the Uhaul trailer said it could only go 55 mph but really that was more like a guideline right?....

jk this is not a picture of our Uhaul. We were fortunate enough to be blessed with a fairly uneventful though very long drive from Provo, UT to Austin, TX.

At first I wanted nothing to do with driving a Uhaul. I looked at companies where you packed the truck and they drove, those little moving pods, and the entire gammet of none self-drive moving options. However, due to our time contraints and our insistance on fruggleness the Uhaul appeared in our Wymount parking space. I was actually surprised at what a good experience it turned out to be and how much I learned over the course of our 24 hour drive. Here's my list of things I learned while driving a Uhaul:

1. It is a REALLY good thing Danny has had experience backing up boats because when he was backing up the uhaul/ car trailer all I could do was stand behind him and yell before he hit anything. Growing up we had a camping trailer and always went on long camping trips. I remember many times pulling into a campground late at night and my mom directing my dad how to back up ya know "a little bit right, now 6 in left, straigh back, ect." that was not what happened. Danny was completely on his own until "stop, stop, your going to hit that car!" nice huh?
   
2. When my kids start learning how to drive I am going to go out and buy a manual car and an old beat-up suburban. These were my options when I was learning how to drive (well the suburban was actually pretty new, but I'm not quite sure why my parents trusted us to drive it so old beat up it is). I've learned that by knowing how to drive these two cars I can drive almost anything. Case and point Danny's corolla, a ford truck, and a Uhaul truck. I was really surprised by how much the Uhaul felt like my days behind the wheel of the suburban.
3. Canyons + Construction + Uhaul = very poor gas mileage!!!! We went through about 3/4 of a tank just driving from Provo to Price fortunately for us our gas mileage improved immensely after that.
4. Don't drive through puddles! ok this one didn't happen to us but this is in memory of the poor truck in Montecello, Utah that drove through a puddle trying to get out of a gas station and found out that it was actually a very large hole. When we drove past his back wheels were stuck in the whole and his truck bed was sitting on the asphault in the pouring rain.
   
5. I'm really glad we did not move to west Texas! I think if you've ever driven thorugh west Texas you do not need anymore information.

That's about it now were safe and sound in Austin!

Birthdays

The Circle of Life

Last week I turned off the lights and locked the door of my classroom for the very last time. It was funny as I packed up all of my things I was struck with this philosophical feeling, perspective I guess. It was almost this time last year that I showed up with Crys's car filled with stuff. I was so eager to fill my classroom with all of the things I had been working so hard on. Then, there was the day I got my nametag next to my door "Mrs. Rich" That's right I was Mrs. Rich and this was my classroom!
As I was packing I was surprised by how much had changed now I couldn't wait to move all of my things out. Then, It hit me I wasn't coming back. I have no job for next year, no new classroom to decorate. All of my teaching stuff will live in boxes waiting for "someday". Someday when I get up the courage to try teaching again. When I am once again filled with a million ideas, hopes, and dreams.
I am going to lunch with the new interns tomorrow. It is suppose to be a nice chat, pass on wisdom kind of lunch. What I really want to say is run! I'm sure the internship can be wonderful given the right situation, but it was quite the roller coaster ride. Perhaps, I really do stink as a teacher and a person and all of their "concerns" were valid. I however, think they forgot to notice one thing about my "teaching style" how much I cared for and loved my students. Maybe it is because I don't have my own kids, but for 6 hours a day I felt like I had 24 kids.
No, I suppose I did not move everything out of my classroom. The books are gone. The decorations gone. The students gone. The computer files... still there (oops). A year's worth of sweat, tears, hopes, and dreams from a teacher's first year teaching... still there. I will probably never step foot in Mt. Loafer again, but a part of me will always be there just as a part of my students will always be with me.
This year my students taught me that the important things are not math, science, and especially not literacy! *Gasp!* (it's ok they already gave me my degree) The most important thing my class and I learned was not on the end of the year criterion reference test. I learned that the most important thing is to be a good person and to put all your trust in the Lord. Then, everything else will fall into place as it should. That doesn't mean you will not be criticized for your methods, but in the end it will all come together for your good.

Food Blog!

I've decided to start a food blog! This is so that I quit posting pictures of our meals on this blog come see it! Something to Savor

Look at me I'm a graduate!

After 4 quick years of college I have now joined the ranks as a college grad.

Procession at the Smith Field House

Mom & Dad with the classic BYU sign


The classic BYU sign


Photo Opportunity with Grandma & Grandpa Ferrell



I was reminising today about some of my experiences over the past 4 years. It feels like thy keep letting freshman in younger and younger. They also seem to be less and less mature. It was then that I discovered that deep down I am still my freshman self. To an outsider it may seem that I have learned and grown so much, but really it's just the same ol' me just with a new fancy piece of paper.

Oh yeah, I might know a few more facts as well :)

Conference Sunday

McDonalds Has Got Nothing On Us!


Every conference Sunday since I was a kid was "Big Breakfast" Sunday. It didn't matter what we had but it always took the majority of the first session to make. This year we continued the tradition, but haha! we were actually eating it by the first talk. I feel particularly proud of this fact. So here's our breakfast egg, bacon, and cheese biscuits and hashbrowns.


I made the biscuits using this amazing recipe from a blog I randomly found http://pinchmysalt.com/2007/09/18/how-to-make-the-best-buttermilk-biscuits-from-scratch/ but they have since become my new favorite thing because they are amazing!!!
Now all me and Danny need to do is decide what to but on top of the hashbrowns. Danny likes ketchup while I prefer maple syrup.

Then, for dinner we had Beef Stew with Cibatta bread.


I threw in a can of diced tomatoes
2/3 of a can beef broth (would have been a whole can but this was left over from some other recipe)
1 lb. beef stew meat tossed in four and pan fried till outside is brown
1 onion diced
2-3 cloves of garlic
a swig of Worcestershire sauce
3 beef bollin cubes
2 c. water
About 8 small potatoes cut into bit-sized pieces.

Then let it sit in the crock pot all day on low (about 10 hours, but if you don't have that much time like me today 1-2 hrs. high 4-6 hrs. low)

For the cibatta bread I cut them in half then rubbed the insides with a garlic glove, drizzled them with olive oil, and toasted them lightly. They made a great addition to the stew.
Also during the conference break I decided to make something fun for my visiting teachies for Easter. I didn't want to bring anything foodish because I always bring food and it is a little cliche. So this is what I came up with. Tiff had an egg like this when we were kids, but it got broken. She was crushed so my mom helped her make a new one. I remember being so amazed when she blew the egg out! Anyways it turned out to be the perfect idea as they were so much fun to make.