Catch Up Post

I haven't been updating my blog. The last update was in July!! YIKES! I am now student teaching in Nevada and LOVING it!!

Here are pictures from BANKS Lake and The Beach with Ty's Family!

Graduation pictures COMING SOON....

4th of July Weekend

To start off the weekend, Friday night, we went to HIESE to go camping, hot springs and to swiim! It was so much fun. On the way home we stopped at BIG JUD'S! :)

Who: Brooke and Tanner Fullmer, Chelsea and Adam Anderson, Kayla and Derek Cooper, Jeff and Alicia Richmond, and Tyler and I. :)

What:Camping

Where: HEISE

Saturday night we all went home and slept in our own beds, Sunday we went to church and Monday at 12:30pm we went to Idaho Falls to spend the day with friends before the fireworks! We played games, ate, ran around and had lots of Fun!! AND THEN.... it got dark and we watched the AWESOME FIREWORKS!!! :) It took about an hour to get home after the fireworks since they are so popular. Normally a trip from Rexburg to Idaho Falls would only take 25-30 minutes. (Depending on who is driving.)

My Wonderful Dad!

Ok... so I realized I never posted about my dad and Father's Day was a month AGO! Sorry Dad! I love you so much and this post is JUST FOR YOU!! :)

This is my dad, Vaunn. I am so lucky to have him! My dad is so amazing in so many ways!! He is patient, kind, loving, funny and always there for me when I need him! I don't know what I would do without my dad. Of course we have had rough moments, but we are always there for each other when we need to be.

A few stories...

Patience --> Some of you may have learned by now that I am not the most patient person in the world and I am not the best at using computers, especially my own silly lap top. Anyways, anytime I have a problem with my computer, printer, camera....pretty much anything electronic, I call my Dad. A lot of the time he is not sure what is wrong either, but he is always patient and willing to do trial and error things with me to make it all work again. I don't know what I would do without him.... actually I do... I would be going to the computer help desk a LOT on campus!! haha.

Kind/ Loving --> One thing I LOVE about my Dad is that when I haven't seen him for a bit (a day or even a few months) he is always quick to give me a hug when I come up to him. I love that he sqeezes me and says something like "Hey Boots!" when he hugs me and when he calls me Boots, I know how much he loves me!! I love that he has a nick name for me.... which brings me to my next story.....

Funny --> My dad has nick names for EVERYONE!!! If you know him well, you know that he is always saying funny things and that no one is called by their actual name. Here are a few examples...

Gubbe Family = Gubbsters

Russell Family = Rooskies

Barb (my mom) = Barbie

Me = Boots

Anthony (brother) = Tonio

Carson = Carsonie

Nyle = Nyle the science guy

David = Poe

Walmart = Walyworld

McDonald's = McDees

I can't think of any more right this second, but I KNOW there are tons! Feel free to comment

if you know one I missed! :)

Always there for me --> The most recent experience of my dad being there for me was during the rafting trip that we went on in June. My Dad saved my life. The way he looked at me when I was in the water and he pulled me out and he was so calm, I knew even more how much he loved me. I don't know how to explain it, but I just felt his love so strongly and it was surrounding me and even though I was scared and it was hard to breathe, I felt safe with my Dad.

Thank you for everything you do for my Dad! You are truely the greatest!!! :) I LOVE YOU!!

River Rafting

Last year over the 4th of July weekend, the Litchfield family (My Dad's Side) went to Alpine, Wyoming and we went river rafting! We all had tons of fun. We had two rafts, a smaller blue one and a large white one. Since we all had a BLAST!!! We decided that weekend that we wanted to go again this year, but have more people come! I love our family!! :)

Anyways, this year we went a month earlier and went the first weekend in JUNE. This may not seem like it would make a big difference, but we were ALL nervous we would freeze. We also heard rumors (from the weather man) that it might snow that weekend. However, we went forward and headed to Alpine!

Here are a few of the pictures from our runs down the river- stolen from Nichole, Thanks! :)


Right before we went, there was a HUGE landslide that blocked the road. The above picture is just a small part of the landslide. Luckily by the time we went, it was mostly under control and we could still raft and drive on the road!

The green raft was the "small" one this year and the white/grey one was the bigger raft for more people and was more stable. We felt comfortable having the younger kids go on the stable raft. The green one might have been a little scary for them.

The group on the white raft this run was not smiling. Why you ask... Well, this was the run that we had a 7 year old on the raft with us and the rest were adults. We were planning for a pretty easy run down the river, with hitting rapids and a little bit of fun. LITTLE did we know what we were in for.... Right before this picture was taken, the white raft hit a rapid that was caused by the landslide PERFECTLY and EVERYONE (including the 7 year old- Cooper) was thrown into the water.

What I remember... I didn't see anything coming. I thought everything was going smooth, and then all of a sudden, I was IN the water... then I was UNDER the raft and I started to PANIC, I remembered NOT to panic and tried to calm down, feeling above my head to get out from under the raft and get my head ABOVE water (which I am told all lasted 5-7 seconds, but seems LONGER). Then someone GRABBED my life jacket and pulled me up, so I could breathe (I found out later it was my Dad and Mark). The said, "GRAB THE ROPE!" My head was FINALLY above water and was SO grateful! My uncle on one side, my Dad on the other. My breathing was labored and I struggled to catch my breath, as we went through the rapids and waves continued to push all of us down into the water and give us only a moment to catch a quick breath before the next dunking. My shoes were coming off. I reached down, grabbed them both off me feet, going under water and tried to throw them into the boat. I struggled, so my Dad threw them in.

There was no time or breathe to yell or cry, we just took in air when we could and held on to the rope. Our bodies were weak and the water was FREEZING. We were heading for a rock, my cousin Cody was in front of the raft, I thought we were going to hit him with the raft and throw him under water. We all yelled to him "WATCH OUT!" The raft reached him and somehow he was fine, and was now holding the rope attached to the raft.

We finally saw the green raft up ahead. We reached them and they grabbed Cooper first, me, Laurie and Sarah. I was in the green raft now and out of the water, but my body would not stop shaking. Cooper was crying. We were unsure of where Dee was, then we saw a part of her life jacket. She had lots a hold of the raft and was alone and being SMASHED by waves. We were nervous. Somehow everyone was not in a raft except Dee, we hadn't gotten to her yet. In the green raft we used EVERY ounce of strength we had to paddle to Dee up stream. It was too difficult, so we tried to just stay in one place. She finally reached our raft as she floated and the men pulled her in. Her journey was the most difficult and scary.

The two rafts pulled to the side in a calm area and Tyler, my Dad and someone else held the two rafts and stood on the shore. We needed a break, time to recooperate. We waited what only seemed to be a minute or two and then got back into our rafts, with Dan adding to the white raft to help paddle. We were all okay, but we were scared.

No one taking pictures, waiting for us at the end or even the green raft knew there was a problem. Once we reached the green raft and they saw our faces, they knew things were not ok. The people waiting on the shore had NO CLUE. The first person up to the parking lot told the story. We wish they would have gotten some pictures so we all could know what really happened, but no one knew it would be a big spill, we thought it was an easy ride. LIVE and LEARN, right? :)

It was a great and amazing weekend with family and stories that we will be telling for a lifetime! I want my whole family to know how much I LOVE them and I am so grateful that we are all safe! It could have been WAY worse. (Good thing we prayed before the first run that day!! Oh, the POWER of PRAYER!)

Best Ever

Barbara

My Mom is the most amazing and wonderful person I know. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so I have been thinking about her a TON this weekend. I am sad I won't be able to spend the day with her, but I just wanted to brag about her a little on my blog. :)

I am so lucky to have the Mother I do. She has taught me so much and is always teaching me new things. If I ever have questions she is the first person I go to (unless it is a technology question, then it is Tyler or my Dad.)

My Mom is always thinking of others. As a child, she was the perfect example of service. She cooks, cleans, babysitts, drives and does anything else, that people need from her. She is always willing to be the first to volunteer to serve others. She never thinks of herself first, NEVER. I am constantly impressed by her selflessness. This is one quality that I am striving to become more like my Mom. She would rather be making everyone else happy, comfortable and safe, before even considering thinking about her own feelings in the situation. I don't know how she does it, becasue for me, it is n0t easy to always think of others, but she never fails.

My mom is GREAT at EVERYTHING!!
cooking, scripture reading, loving, serving, cleaning, laughing, sharing her testimony, sharing everything, being patient, being the perfect kind of friend, respecting everyone no matter what.... Just to Name a few!

Those who know my Mom know that everything I have said is so true! Not to mention she is beautiful, a great wife, sister, daughter, aunt and of course... MOM! :)

Mom is so special in so many ways.
These Make Me Smile:
- She is my best friend in the entire world and I love it!!

- She is always willing to be there and laugh with you when things are good and hug you when things are hard.

-She gets really fun and silly after midnight ;)
- She is always on my side.... even if I am wrong. [Which doesn't happen often :) ]

- She would never intentionally hurt or embaress someone.

- She always corrects our mistakes privately and personally in a positive and
non- judgemental way.

A Few of My favorite Memories with Mom:

- Anytime we talk, just the two of us.

- Walmart trip at 11:45pm in the toy isle, where we found a "Tickle Me Elmo" and laughed for
what seemed like hours

- I made the cheerleading team in high school and I called my Mom as soon as I found out. After
I told her over the phone, she was crying and said, "I am just so happy for you! I know how much you wanted this and I am so glad you made the team!"

- It was a few days before I would be sealed in the temple to Tyler. My Mom escorted me through the Draper, Utah temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There I recieved my endowments with my Mom by my side. It was a wonderful and spiritual experience and I was so thankful to have my amazing Mom there with me.

I am so thankful for a Mom that taught me about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is always willing to bear her testimony and share what she learns. I love that I can talk with her and ask her questions about the gospel. I know she has so much knowledge and talking with her is wonderful.

I have the Greatest Mom in the WORLD!! Thank you Mom! I LOVE YOU!!

Here we go, One more time, everybody's feelin' fine!

We have reached our final semester in Rexburg!!

It is really bitter/sweet. We are so excited to be finishing with school and moving on with life, but we will miss all the great friends we have here.

The classes I am taking this semester:
Kindergarten Practicum --> I teach every day for about 15-30 minutes. It is a lot different
than any other experience I have had, so I think there will be a
lot for me to learn! I am excited to work with the little kids, they
seem great so far! There is only one diffiuclt thing about this. I have
one teacher observing me and a differnt one teaching me what I
should be doing during my teaching. Most of the kinks have been
worked out, but it is still somewhat complicated trying to please two
people at once. I hope I can do it..... Time will tell.

Science Methods --> I am learning how to teach the children about science. I have heard it is a
a really easy class and I have nothing to worry about, but I don't know a
lot about the class yet, because I have only had it once so far this semester.

Social Studies Methods --> This class has actually been enjoyable so far. I had no idea what to
expect from this class, becasue I have heard mixed reviews about it
The professor is lots of fun and is actually who will be observing and
grading my teaching in the Kindergarten Practicum! I think this
class will be a lot of busy work, but I can survive it.

Strategies --> I will be applying what I have learned during my time here at BYU-Idaho in this
class. I will be doing home visits, interventions and working with a family once a
week for an hour each session. I am in a group with three other girls who are
ECSE majors, but we will actually decide things and make changes to the plan
individually. I will also be learning about how to write and IEP/ IFSP, which will
be good, because I feel like, if anything, that is what I really need to learn about
before I am sent out on my own to be a teacher.

It is going to be a difficult semester, but I can do it!!! :)

Tyler is taking some accounting classes this semester. I think he misses his internship a little, but he is excited to be done with school for a while. He is completely done with his BA in accounting July 22nd and I am done with Early Childhood/ Special Education in November, right before Thanksgiving!

August through November we will be Mesquite, Nevada for my student teaching (internship). My grandparents have a house there and they are letting us stay with them for the couple months we are there! We are so appreciative of them allowing us to live with them!!

December we will go back to Washington, which we are excited for. December to August we will both be working (hopefully). Then in September 2012, Tyler will go to Central Washington University to get his Masters in Accounting. It is a one year program, and it will help him to get an even better score on his CPA exam. :)

Well, that's the happenings and our plan. I will try to be better about taking pictures..... cross your fingers.

Are you SERIOUS?!

I forgot my camera when we went to Washington....

Because of this....I did not take a single picture during spring break!

We had a lot of fun sleeping in every day, spending time with family and going on walks. It was a very relaxing spring break and it is our last one EVER with both of us in school.

While we were in WA we went and looked at apartments ans storage units for when I am doing student teaching. We will probably be in subsidized housing, because everything is SOOO expensive in Washington state.

For example, in Rexburg, a big storage unit is about 25 dollars a month. HOWEVER, in WA, the same sized storage unit is about 80 dollars. We were so shocked!

We are excited to be back in Washington again more permanently in December! :)