I am thankful for eagles

The real ones...they are majestic, huge and kinda mean looking. They have that don't mess with me look.
The ones that sing (you know, the Eagles)
The ones that represent the United States of America...I am so thankful to be an American.

It's Tuesday an I am thankful for...teaching kindergarten

My kindergarten classroom and here are the three reasons...

* The classroom is HUGE (large enough for 32 rambunctious kinders).

* I have my VERY own bathroom. Having the neurotic (I can't spell tonight!) bladder that I do, this is a GREAT blessing. I am so thankful to be able to go 'potty' on a moment's notice.

* I have my own preparation room with a massive amount of storage. There are only two classrooms in the school that have it and I have one of the two rooms.

I sure didn't think kindergarten sounded like a blessing when I knew it was in the offing, but I'm so happy to be where I am.

Monday is full of thanks, too

#1 - gigantic grapes (even if they do have seeds)
#2 -having enough sleep to be prepared to take on the 32 kindergartners.
#3 - the wonderful sunny (but NOT hot) autumn...it's just beautiful outside!

Sunday Full of Thanks

Yes, it's Monday but I'm still thankful for Sundays...

#1 - Fasting to come back in the Gospel line - it works!
#2 - Halloween candy (after the fast...of course)
#3 - The time change ... I needed that extra hour.

The newest member of the Witt household - Hillary

Hold onto your seat for this one...meet Hillary. Does this just crack you up? Two little oldish people riding around Northern California on a motorized tricycle. Mickey knows a man that builds these tricycles. He mentioned this to me a couple of years ago. Next thing I know, Mickey wants me to go see something...our own personal motorized tricycle. It's cute, don't ya think? The back mud flaps have Yosemite Sam on them with the words..."Back Off". It is so fun to ride. We have taken a couple of longish rides and I love it! We are pretty cute in our dark red, matching helmets. Shoot man...we're just plain cute! I'm sure that's why so many people watch us pass by them on the freeway.

The Red Letter - August 1

Okay, so here's why it's a RED letter day...That's when Andie was born. And here's why it's so cool that happened...
Andie is -
*a grateful daughter...I can't even count the number of thank you notes I've received from Andie, just because I'm her mom.
*a sweet, step-daughter to Mickey...she loves him, and that means so much to me.
*a great supportive, wife to Morgan
*a loving sister to Lindsay...they are sisters and friends, too.
*a fun, wonderful, energetic, entertaining, and full time working mother of two.
*a super successful insurance executive (may have taken a little liberty with saying she's an executive, but that's how hard she works)
*a voracious book reader - it's been that way since she was in the 3rd grade.
* a stellar Primary teacher (she instituted Reverence Jellybeans)
*so quick witted - I revel in just talking to her because she just plain old entertains me.
*she is pretty darn courageous...she's taking her kids to church (and that aint easy-hello EASTON!) just because she knows it's the right thing to do and she wants to give her kids a solid foundation. I truly respect her for the 'church' thing.
Shoot Man! I'm so glad she's my daughter.

Just more pictures of the beautiful cruise...a memory of a lifetime.

Shopping...it's all about shopping with the MickMan. Holy smokes - the man loves to shop. We really did see and buy some cool things. I never like spending money - but it happened. I have some beautiful diamond earrings, a beautiful silver/gold necklace with a diamond pendant to go with it. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining (even though at the time I did complain) but that my husband delights in giving me beautiful gifts.

I took a picture of the hand sanitizer dispenser because they were all over the ship and I just knew Andie would love it. EVERYWHERE! Hand sanitizer... EVERYWHERE!

And that is just a microscopic view of our wonderful vacation.

I did learn a few things while cruising - wanna know what?

I learned that it'sworth it to be upgraded from a verandah suite to just below a penthouse status. It didn't cost us an extra cent, but boy did we ever enjoy the room and the verandah. COOL!
I also learned that a "tender" is something more than fast food chicken...it is a mini ship that looks just like what I picture the Jaradite barges (?) to lookl like. Really interesting. That was how we left the ship and went into Ketchikan. I also learned that cold strawberry soup is really like a strawberry milkshake. I wanted to lick the soup bowl even though we were at the formal dinner. I also learned that to 'muster' doesn't mean that the 'd' was left off 'mustard' ...it's when you gather on a ship to go through the escape procedure...in case you run into an iceberg. I learned that when fresh water meets salt water, there is a change in the water color.

The cruise pictures

What a great experience. I will just post the pictures with little or no remarks because the pictures will probably be boring enough. Ya sure don't need the extra words...

Road Trip #3 - I 80 through the Recliner - REALLY

Really? Really? Interstate 80 through a recliner? What can that possibly mean? well, here goes. I will tell you that I am THE only person I know who has run right through a real recliner. Here's the story and I'm sticking to it! It was about 7:45, dusk. It was the Tuesday before Mickey and I were to fly to Seattle to catch the cruise. I was driving home from Lindsay/Andie's houses...happy, happy, happy. The far right lane was vacant while the middle and left lanes were fairly crowded. Duh, so change lanes. And there it was a recliner sitting upright in the far left lane. 'Was' is the operative word...because I promptly smashed it to pieces (strung it across the three lanes). The thing was demolished and I did it! Well, me and my beloved Honda Pilot. I thought for sure I had two flat tires, so I pulled over to check it out. At the same time, I made sure no one could see my face...SO embarassing. I was just fine, but my beloved Pilot was pretty messed up - NOOO!flat tires just a lot of dropping headlights. I watched as the bumped cumbled and fell in the dirt. The right side of my car which had been previously damaged was also slightly messed up. I am so glad I was driving my Honda/SUV. If I had been in a sedan, the thing would have been totaled. But the bill to the insurance company came to just about $3,000. And the car was repaired just 2 days later. Yes, I personally destroyed a tan recliner. Shore was a proud moment.

Road Trip #2 - Mid June - Seattle/Enumclaw

OH, great memories...The middle, endish part of June I was invited to ride along with Lindsay, Carter and Marin to see Uncle Chad, Aunt Janeen, Briggs, Livvy and Emily. I was pretty flattered that Lindsay would even consider letting me go along. What a dream come true...seeing 5 of my 7 grandkids all at the same time. The kids were a delight to travel with and that is one L O N GGGG trip. I'm not sure how long it took us, but it was longer than 2 hours. Honestly, the kids were awesome little travelers. Hard to believe, huh. The 5 kids played together (well, not so much Emily because she had just had her tonsils taken out) and just hung out together. Janeen fixed us some delicious meals and Chad just entertained the mother. Dang, it was FUN in every possible way. One of my favorite pictures is of the 4 kids on a ferry ride (I so missed Emily being with us). I'll share a Chadism with you. When we drove to the place to drive onto the ferry (we went without Janeen ???) it looked like there a LONG line of cars waiting to drive onto the ferry. None of the cars moved. We waited and waited and waited and waited. None of the cars moved. So Briggs and I jumped out to see what was going on. We towards the front of the line of cars only to discover that the line of cars we were waiting behind were parked cars (ya know, the ones that have NO driver in them). I had to laugh. Briggs and I hustled back to the car to let Chad know we were waiting behind a long line of parked cars. Yeah! Mom and Chad make a great pair. We needed Janeen! Again, just a GREAT trip.

June 2009 Roadtrip #1 - Peace & Quiet!

I have decided that one of my yearly jaunts needs to be to Sparks Nevada right after school lets out for the summer. This was the second year I've taken that little trip. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I spent some quality with Mark & Megan, slept, read some books and just LOVED it. My very favorite part though is always the vision of lovliness called the Sparks Marina...that's right, THE Sparks that is in the middle of the desert has a marina. When you hear the word 'marina' does that bring a picture of water, sailboats and maybe sand to your mind? It does mine and even after seeing the Sparks Marina, I still have the same picture in my mind. WOW! a desert marina. I will let you make a comparison between the Sparks Marina and another Marina. The contrast is startling...but the idea of a desert community having a marina is precious.

Now, a few weeks later, Mickey and I left Seattle aboard a cruiseliner. As we left, I noticed THE Seattle Marina. here we go...just comapare the Seattle Marina with the precious Sparks Marina. I know...I'm just mean. Do you notice any difference? Can you tell which one is which?

Don't hold your breath...but:

Here is my way of making something happen in the world of BLOGS...here's a list of things I will be writing about...someday.

August 1st 1977 - a RED letter day.
Strawberry shakes - cruise style
Tenders - not chicken ones
A week end by the Sparks Marina - a comparison
Room 22 "after"
Room 2 before and after
The roadtrip
My mom
The Kindergarten teacher.
Are you just achin' to know about all of these things? I'll bet you just can't wait.

Life is GREAT!

The Famous Ketchikan

Yep, it's famous but you may not have even known that. It is the leading salmon fishering place. Ya know who comes here to fish? Johnny Depp...we just missed seeing his yacht. DANG! We went to see a world famous totem pole carver...what an interesting and peaceful man he is. I wonder if that is because he works with a product from earth all the time. We also saw and group of Tlingit dancers. Mickey MADE me go up and dance with them. The dancers were great but a little girl about 18 months old really stole the show and she wasn't even a part of it. We may have a picture of her...she was moving pretty fast between the dancers with her bottle. The mom Tlingits dance holding their newborns and infants.

I LOVE the fog horn!