Weddings, Friends, and Fun

I had the great pleasure this past week of spending special time with my good friend Amanda. Amanda and I have been friends since 5th grade and realized last week that the two of us actually stayed friends all the way through middle school, high school, and college and never went through a weird "your not my friend now" phase. She's an awesome gal and I love hanging out with her, and it was so much fun helping her prepare for her wedding last Saturday. Now that I'm married weddings are a really fun time to reflect on my own wedding and how fun it is to be married to my fabulous husband! The wedding fun included a BBQ "get to know each other" event, a fun personal shower, the gal's luncheon and pedicures (where I received the best pedicure EVER), the rehearsal and of course the wedding itself. Mark and Amanda had a BEAUTIFUL wedding and I will post a few pictures (all of them can be found on facebook). It was so fun to be involved and running around all day helping out.
Plus, my parents came so then I was able to spend Saturday evening, Sunday and Monday morning with them. My mom and I got in some quick shopping and we also enjoyed dinner on Sunday evening with some dear friends that lived across the street from us when we lived in Maple Grove while I was growing up. Patricia and Lance are very special people and even traveled to GI for our wedding a few years back. It is always fun to see them and I got to try P.F. Chang's for the first time. Then, on Monday morning we met my best friend Dawn for breakfast. After that, my parents headed for home and I got to spend the last few days with Dawn, her husband Eric, and her adorable daughter Kaitlyn (oh, and of course Miley the puppy!). It was FABULOUS to spend time with Dawn and I so enjoyed getting to know Kaitlyn. Then, today I tried to go home...tried being the key word. Dawn and Kaitlyn dropped me off at the airport (where I met up with Justin and Katherine for coffee...long story short-they flew into MN also, for a different wedding, and were returning to Dallas around the same time as me, on a different flight). I checked in, had some chatting time with Justin and Kat, and then Justin got out his iPhone and checked my flight. I learned it was 1.5 hours late and I would be missing my connecting flight, which I thought was the last flight out of Denver to Austin. So, I waited around with Justin and Kat for a little while longer and then headed to my gate to determine what was going on. Come to find out, the plane in Denver hit a bird (crazy!) and was running very, very late and yes, I would indeed miss the last flight out to Austin from Denver. So, I could fly onto Denver and spend the night in a hotel OR have Dawn come and get me and fly out in the morning. So, I called Dawn and she graciously agreed to come back and get me and take me back in the morning. While I am happy for a few bonus hours with my best friend, I am a little bummed about not getting to see my hubby tonight since I've been gone for nine days already. However, I am very happy that I am safe and have a good place to sleep for tonight =)!
All in all it's been a wonderful time and I am so blessed to have such great friends and family to hang out with! If only I lived closer and could see them more often! Poor Kaitlyn even cried when I left (or tried to!) today! What a sweetie! She agreed to come visit me some day, although she also agreed that Justin, me, and our dogs could come live with them...so she might just agree to most anything =).
At any rate, hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be snuggly tucked into my own bed, in my own house, with my awesome hubby and sweet doggies. While vacation is wonderful, going home is always nice as well!


Dad and I on the boat during the reception


Mom and I on the boat during the reception


Amanda and her gals--Rebecca, Heather, Laura and Heidi

The Last Week of School...

Ah, the end of another school year is finally happening. In some ways this year was REALLY long and in other ways I can hardly believe the year is actually over already. It's very crazy to think about.
What I'm really thinking about lately though is the point-less-ness of the last week of school. Because we are a residential school, all of our days are full days, until the final day which is a half day. Most high schools do 1/2 days for finals, so kids go, take 1, 2 or maybe 3 finals, then go home. Perfect, right? Well, for us, they still only want the kids to take 2 finals, but then they have to still be there the whole day. And, our finals started last Wed...so, as of today all of my kids are done with their final projects, have done their presentations, and yet we still have 2.5 days of school left. Which means that for the next 2.5 days I get to stick in a movie and play babysitter while cleaning my classroom. Kind of lame. Do we really need to have them come just to watch movies? I suppose we have to for legal reasons, but I really wish there was some way they could figure out how to get finals done and not always have 2-3 days leftover for us teachers to play babysitters. I guess at least I have helpers in cleaning out my room =)! I'll think of the positive.
The other craziness going on right now is preparation for awards day. Two years ago, another newer teacher and I, Tamara, agreed to take over the planning of awards day. We're both very organized people, and she's an English teacher so she's good at editing everything. For the last two years we've been planning, revising, and perfecting the awards day ceremony. In the end, it always turns out well, everyone is happy, and all is good. But the process at times is maddening! This year especially people just keep adding and adding things to the program...and yet they still think we can finish in 2 hours. Yikes! We will be so lucky to finish in 2 hours...I have serious doubts about the possibility. Hopefully people know not to blame Tamara and I =). Ah well, that's what we get for volunteering our services =)! Maybe, just maybe, some day I will learn how to say "NO thank you"...HA!
Well, that's all for now, I'm off to enjoy an evening of no paper-grading and no school work!