Moving Out: Hillcrest Edition

In June, I officially resigned from teaching at Hillcrest. I still had to do the 4th of July parade, and clean out my room. I finished cleaning and moved out today. I am no longer a teacher! It has been a long and crazy 3 years. I feel like I put a lot of work into the program, and it is bittersweet to leave. I spent countless hours at Hillcrest/work - basketball and football games, cleaning, lesson planning, parent-teacher conferences, calculating grades, cleaning and organizing uniforms, back-to-school night, parent night, planning trips and fundraisers, performing, setting up and taking down performances. On a typical day, I spent far less time with my own little Charlie than I did with other people's kids. Some days he would be asleep when I left and asleep when I got home. I also got to deal with angry parents and students on a regular basis, and all of the joys of differing opinions about what should be taught (and how it should be taught) in my classroom. 

I will miss the rare moments when I felt like a student appreciated me, or when they got excited about something I was teaching, or when I got to help them achieve something. I made some relationships that I truly value. I will miss having other adults to talk to, being a part of a community of awesome professionals, and I will miss the music. 

But now I get to stay at home with two sweet little boys. One who says "Thank you mom" whenever I get him a snack or popsicle, put him down for a nap, get him up from a nap, change his diaper, or give him a hug. One who wants to show me things, play with me, and snuggle with me. I have to say, I am pretty excited to watch the school year start and not have to be there for it. (Although, I'm sure it will be weird at first.) Maybe someday I will go back, but for now, I will try to appreciate being a stay-at-home mom. 

If I hadn't just had a baby, and wasn't moving out of my house at the same time, I might have cleaned up and organized the band room a little bit more, but I had to let it go. 

Instrument locker room

Music library

Guitar storage room

Percussion room

(I already took my name card down)

Before

After

Goodbye Hillcrest! Good luck!

Moving Out: Home Edition

We decided to bite the bullet and get most of our stuff moved to Jerome. We rented a truck on Monday, loaded it up with as much as we could, and drove it to Jerome. Chad's brother and dad helped us load the truck, but Chad and I unloaded it ourselves. We didn't get into Jerome until very late, but the truck had to be back the next morning, so we moved in in the middle of the night. It was so hot in the apartment, which made Russell quite unhappy. In between moving furniture and the washer and dryer, I sat in the air-conditioned car with him. We aren't done yet, but it is nice to have furniture, a real bed to sleep on, and our washer and dryer. We will probably have at least another truck full to move later.

Charlie went with Chad to pick up the truck. We rented it late, so he had to drive to Rexburg to get it. 

All loaded up - heading out! 

Driving the truck. Headed out!

This car pulled up next to us at the rest stop. They have a parrot!!

Keeping busy in the car. (Russell cried on and off from Pocatello to Twin Falls.) 

The next day, Chad's parents were going through Twin Falls on their way back to Sacramento. They were able to drive Leonard out for me so I have a car to drive. YAY! Unfortunately, that means that I can't really spend any extended period of time in Ammon because I won't have a car. So I guess I live in Jerome now...

That night, we met Chad at work so we could go to dinner to celebrate our move to Jerome. We went to River Rock Cafe in the mall parking lot, and it was delicious! It is so good to be back together again. Being in Idaho Falls by myself with the boys got old fast. (It was 10 days after mom and Chad left on the same day before Chad came back for the 4th of July.) 

I tried to take cute pictures of the boys in these matching outfits that I found at Kohl's before mom left. They didn't really turn out as I had imagined them, but oh well. 

Baby Blessing

We were going to bless Russell on Sunday, June 22nd before mom left, but it didn't work out. We rescheduled for July 6th. We took lots of pictures, and Chad recorded the blessing for our neighbors. Afterwards, we had lunch out in the yard and played with the ladder golf game Chad got from Erin for his birthday. 

Charlie sharing his kitty toy with Russell. 

 Sister Swensen and Russell. Russell is named for her husband who passed away suddenly in April.

Everett and Jessica Wilson. Bro. Wilson is our home teacher - he came to the house to be with Charlie while Sis. Wilson took me to the hospital around 2:30am. 

Chad's family. 

That afternoon, we also went downtown to visit the new 'Artitorium'. It's a kids interactive art museum. It's not officially open yet, but Christian and Chad are friends with one of the guys working there, so he let us in when no one was around. It was nice to have the place to ourselves. I didn't get very many pictures, except these: