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! :)

No chance of a career....

TWO STORIES I WROTE FOR PRESCHOOL. They are kinda lame, but they work.

Story #1: The Very Friendly Fish

There once was a fish named Freddy (put up red beta picture).

He was a very friendly fish and it was his birthday. Freddy has lots of friends, and he knew they would want to play with him on his birthday.

One day, Freddy the fish decided he wanted to go see if any of his friends wanted to play. The first friend he saw was Sally the salmon (put up Salmon picture).

Freddy asked, Sally, “Do you want to play with me?”

Sally looked at Freddy and said, “Sorry, no time to play, I have a party to go to tonight.”

Freddy looked sad, but he kept swimming. Soon, Freddy saw more of his friends. It was Jon, Jill and Jack (put up rainbow fish picture).

Freddy got excited. He loved to play with Jon, Jill and Jack.

Freddy swam up fast and said, “Do you want to play with me?”

Jon, Jill and Jack swam towards Freddy. They looked at each other and then said, “Sorry, we don’t have time to play. We are busy.”

Disappointed again, Freddy started swimming towards home.

As Freddy swam, he wondered why everyone was busy except him. He wondered if his friends didn’t like him anymore…

As Freddy got close to home he heard a lot of noise. He swam faster…. As soon as he was close to home, lots and lots of fish came swimming out his front door. Among them were all his friends.

They yelled, “SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Freddy’s friends did like him; they were planning a party for him all along. This made Freddy happy.

Story #2: The Fish Story [Tell Children before beginning the story: “Every time you hear your fish color, hold up your fish in the air. Make sure you listen really carefully.”]

Once there was a yellow fish. He was fast like lightening. (Children with yellow fish hold them up.)

Across the ocean there was a purple fish, who loved to swim, twirl and whirl. She had no problem keeping up with the yellow fish. (Children with a purple or yellow fish hold them up.)

Right next door to the purple fish (hold up purple fish) was an orange fish (hold up orange fish). She was friends with the yellow fish (Children with yellow fish hold them up.) and the purple fish (Children with a purple fish hold them up.). They all liked to play tag together in the water.

One day the orange fish (hold up orange fish) was very tired and didn’t come out to play. This made the purple and yellow fish sad (hold up purple and yellow fish). The fish wondered why their friend the orange fish (hold up orange fish) was so tired. They went to go ask orange fish’s (hold up orange fish) Mom.

Her mom said that orange fish (hold up orange fish) was on a swim team and it made her very tired. Her mom also said there were two spots left on the team if yellow fish and purple fish (hold up yellow fish and purple fish) wanted to join.

The next day yellow fish, purple fish and orange fish were all on the swim team (hold up all fish).

They had so much fun swimming and playing together on the swim team.

But the next day, not a single fish… not purple, yellow or orange (hold up all colored fish) were out playing. They were all too tired. But they weren’t sad. They would see each other later at swim team.

L is for the way you Look at me.....

I have had so much to do lately, and I have been stressed out of my mind. Luckily, Tyler is always there for me no matter what. Last night he went and printed a billion things for me at the clubhouse. He had to walk over there in the dark and it was snowing. I am so thankful for a husband who offers and is willing to do things for me, even when they are not fun.

I LOVE YOU SWEETIE!

~ Birthday Palooza ~

I decorated the House with Balloons, a Candy Bar Card, a giant sign, streamers, some garland and window stick ons! Tyler was sure suprised when he walked in!

Tyler got lots of great presents!

Tyler's sister, Emily made us our own cake. The people on top are lego versions of Tyler and myself. Super Cute, Right? It was delicious too! Of course, it was funfetti cake!!

I also made CUPCAKES!!! :)