I love the duck pond!

Em and I have been trying to walk every night at the duck pond here in Rexburg. We go through phases where we will walk for a week or so then something comes up and we take a week or so off...but we have recommitted ourselves to walking every evening. So far so good. I really enjoy walking at the duck pond for several reasons...

1. the ducks...they are cool and we try and bring some bread at least every other day to feed them as we are walking. There is one group of ducks...about 6 or 7 of them depending on the day... that we are partial to feeding. There is one duck in the group with funky feathers. He is not afraid and will eat out of my hand. When we come up to them he will walk right up to me and stand right in front of me until I feed him. His picture is below!

2. the duck pond is right next to the golf course and the Rexburg airport. I always see someone I know golfing and they make it look fun... I love miniature golf and have been toying with the thought of trying real golf...we will see. I love the airport because it is for small private planes and I have this burning desire to learn to fly a plane...it is on my bucket list. It fascinates me to watch the planes take off and land.

3. sunsets...the sunsets are amazing from the duck pond as well as almost anywhere in Rexburg.

My favorite duck

Em feeding ducks

Em on the golf course...with the airport in the background

Yay Water!

I love water! And after the past few days I have learned to appreciate it more than ever! One of the sprinkler pipes in my complex broke and for the past two days they have had the water turned off to my building....not fun let me tell you. The apartment manager was so kind to open two empty apartments in another building (two buildings away) so the 50 girls in my building could use toilet and shower. Have you ever tried to use the bathroom or take a shower when 49 other people want to do the same thing...not my idea of a good time. Neither was getting up two and a half hours early to take a hot shower...especially when I had to leave for summer school in Idaho Falls by 7am....

This afternoon, I was sitting on the couch and I heard this drip drip drip sound coming from the kitchen. I jumped from the couch and hurried in there to see if I was just hearing things or if the sound was for real....the faucet was dripping!!!! YAY! So far it has been on for about an hour, but there is still a huge hole outside my apartment and all their equipment is still there so I am hoping they are not just tricking me. I am keeping my fingers crossed so I don't have to go to a laundry mat to do laundry tonight.

Last night Andra and I decided to play a bit on the digging machine...it was just sitting there and machinery is kinda cool. So here are the pictures from our playing...they really aren't too exciting but it was fun!

Yellowstone

As I said in my previous post... Holli, Em and I went to Yellowstone on Saturday. It was my first time going, and I am ready to go back! It was so BEAUTIFUL! As we were driving around and while waiting on the herd of buffalo, I had time to think and to ponder about the great beauty I had surrounded myself in for the day. There were so many things amazing things to look at, other than the shedding buffalo (I am really not a fan of this animal - I think they are now below the llama on my list). So, I just wanted to share some of the pictures that I took on Saturday, so you can enjoy the beauty of Yellowstone and Teton national parks. Enjoy!

From the top of a mountain over looking the tree tops...yes that is snow between the trees!
One of the many rivers in Yellowstone
Firehole Falls
Lake Yellowstone
Jenny's Lake in Teton National Forrest
The Grand Tetons

Summer is officially here!

Well, Friday was the first official day of summer! And to make it even better, summer is finally making an appearance here in Rexburg. Yes, after 7 weeks of rain and the temperature never getting out of the low to mid 60s (on a good day), we now have sun and temperatures in the 80s. I starting to think I wasn't going to have to use my fan at all this semester!



To celebrate the warm weather, Holli, Em and I headed up to Yellowstone on Saturday. We had a ton of fun and saw lots of animals! Except we didn't see a moose...bummer. But we did see bears, a fox, a yellow bellied marmot (aka rockchuck), elk, deer, a buffalo.

I am no longer a fan of the buffalo since we, along with a million other people, we stuck behind a huge herd of over 100 for over two hours on the road. We couldn't turn around and the only place for the buffalo to go was straight since there was a mountain on one side and a river on the other. But finally after two and a half hours and only going 3 and a half miles in that time, the buffalo finally came upon a field where they could hang out. Because of this delay we missed two showings of Old Faithful and decided not to wait to see the next one. Maybe next time.

Happy Birthday!

Ok, I know I can be a slacker with birthdays so I though I would say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a few of my family and friends that were born in June....

Happy 21st Birthday Kelly!!!!!

This is Kelly and her little one Jayden
Over the past 21 years I have watched Kel grow into the wonderful woman that she is today!

Happy 1st Birthday Streett!

Street is my cousin Krissy's little boy...He has grown up so much since I saw him last in December...I wish I was closer to home!

Happy Birthday Erica!

Erica was one of my first roommates here at BYUI. We roomed together for two semesters and last semester she lived in the apartment above me. She is now in Provo with her husband David ... and my life is not as lively since she has graduated and gotten married. I love your guts Erica Meacham Smith....Miss you tons!!!

Praxis

Well, tomorrow I am taking the Praxis II and the Praxis PLT tests. I am a bit nervous about them, because I have to pass in order to receive my teaching certification. So keep me in your prayers, I will be in the testing center from 7:30am until around 5pm...it is going to be a long long day!

Someone Pinch Me!

Can I ask a question? It is June 11th, right? I just want to make sure because when I woke up this morning it was horribly cold and there was this white stuff falling from the sky. So, I just wanted to make sure it is June and not January!



This is a picture of the roads here in Rexburg in January .... the weather forecast said more wonderful white stuff tomorrow but at least it is not sticking. I just think it is funny I have to wear my winter coat in the middle of June ... or I may start calling it Junauary, with the way the weather is going. However there is a silver lining to the great snow filled clouds in the sky...it should be in the 80s by the weekend!!! Woo Hoo!

Congratulations Smage!

I just want to say congratulation to my cousin Adrienne! This is a bit late but she graduated on May 23rd and I just wanted to say how proud I am of her! Way to go!



How exciting that you are on to the next stage of life! I love and miss you tons and wish I could have been there!

I have crossed the half way mark!!!

Well, I took my one and only midterm today and I think I aced it! It really wasn't that hard. It was for my assessment and evaluation class and we (the class) created the questions...to get practice writing test questions that don't have context clues, biased, etc...

So, now with that finished I am on a count down to the end of the semester ... 38 days left (including weekends)... then GRADUATION!!!



I am still not sure what I am going to do during my less than a month break before moving to Las Vegas...I may go home but I am not sure yet...any suggestions???

I just want to know....!!

I am becoming very impatient. I just want to know my student teaching placement! I know I am going to Las Vegas, but I do not know what grade or school yet. Last semester some of the girls didn't receive their placement until they were already in Vegas and were going to start in two days! The people staying local and those going to Salt Lake all know....ugh! Patience is a virtue and I need to work on it.

Ok I am finished gripping.

On the up side I will be moving to Vegas in 71 days!!! For that I am excited! I do know who my 3 roommates will be and we are going out to dinner next week to bond. They are all great girls. Cat is an elementary ed major, like myself. Andrea and Daisy are both early childhood special education majors. I have had several classes with all three and I am so excited to room with them.

Right now we have just hit mid terms (which I have none ... woo hoo!) and I realized today that there are only 6 weeks (as of tomorrow) left of the semester. Wow has the time flown! Well I am heading out to watch the sunset over the mountains!

Give Me New Orleans...this is for Lynley too!

This is a poem about one of my favorite cities in the world...it is one of my favorites because I grew up less than an hour there and have spent a lot of time there and made many memories with family and friends. A friend emailed this to me and it made me smile.

Give Me New Orelans

give me a king cake smear
give me a beignet kiss
give me a french quarter morning that looks like this

give me the endymion krewe
give me the times-picayune
give me a lazy crawfish boil in muggy sticky june

give me a six pack of dixie
give me some abita rootbeers
give me a city where it only snows once every 10 years

give me a green neutral ground
give me a mardi gras ball
give me a medium rare burger at my grand old Port of Call

give me a glittery drag show
give me the streetcar line
give the House of the Rising Sun
give me a Tchoupitoulas sign

give me a shrimp and oyster poboy
give me lovebug season in May
give me New Orleans-
I will definitely stay.

A different kind of survey

Saw this on a friend's blog...
The rules are simple:
1. Go to http://www.flickr.com/
2. Type your answer to each question in the "search" box.
3. Using only the first page, pick an image.
4. Copy and paste the picture into your blog.
Here goes!

1. What is your first name?


2. What is your favorite food? (ok I had to show the place and the great burger there!)


3. Where did you go to school?


4. What is your favorite color? (all three are in this picture)


5. Who is your celebrity crush?


6. What is your favorite drink?


7. What is your favorite vacation spot? (I have a 3 way tie!)

8. What is your dream vacation?


9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
but if I have to...


10. What do you love most in life?


11. What is your favorite singer? (he also doubles as one of my celeb crushes)


12. What is your favorite snack?


13. What is your favorite sport?


14. What is your favorite holiday?


15. What is your favorite city?


16. What is your favorite flower?


17. What is your favorite smell? (here are two of mine...I know I should only post one but I can't help it)


18. What is your favorite movie?


19. What is your favorite view?


20. What is your favorite dessert?