stress OUT!

Ok I just need to vent this real quick.... i stressed out! My room is still in the making (decorations are mostly up but organizing and cleaning and such is still in progress....) and lots of planning/information overload with this inservice week and school starts monday. Holy crap! I can't wait for these next few weeks to pass because then things will be a breeze.

Meanwhile... James has a chemistry test tomorrow, chemistry final thursday, studying all week for GRE, GRE test on wednesday, CNA test on friday..... whew this is getting crazy!

ok i feel better now :)

the real world

Haven't updated in a LONG time.... don't have many followers though so I'm sure it hasn't mattered all that much :) But moving on - wow we have so much that has happened lately. So here we go.

1. I am officially (signed the contract and everything!) a high school biology teacher. Can you believe it?!?!?!? I am teaching 9th/10th mixed classes for Biology I at Cypress Falls High School -- green and gold -- GO EAGLES! First day of school is August 23rd. First day of work is August 16th.... yes our two year anniversary :( oh well. But I got my keys to my room and I'm starting to decorate it with the help of my very talented mother-in-law :) Much thanks! I am getting nervous as the time creeps closer but I am also very anxious and excited for this new chapter to begin.
2. On Friday, August 6th, we are moving into our apartment! Yay! No more nomadic living... or in other words living out of suitcases. We are living in some apartmetns called Lakeview Lofts which are just down the street from James' parents house. Our apartments are literally right next to James' school and it's only about a 10 minute drive to my school so hopefully we can keep our gas bills down this next year! Thanks to Brian and Mel and the in-laws for letting us stay with them over these last what.... 8 months! We couldn't have made it without them. What the heck would we do without family?? But we am very excited to have our own place again and although that means more chores: grocery shopping, a lot more cleaning, lots more dish washing/putting away, etc. --- I can't wait!
3. We are slowly but surely adapting to Texas heat and boy oh boy is it a killer. I haven't experienced this amount of sweating before... ever in my life! Who knew you sweat so much??!?! It's absolutely crazy. But I have survived so far and James, I'm happy to say, is still alive too.
4. James is chugging away at school again. Police didn't work out in Vegas and we are on a new path in our lives: Physicians' Assistant. James is taking his prerequisites at the community college here in town and he's doing awesome. He is also studying to take the GRE which he takes on August 24th... so keep him in your prayers :) He's very busy with all his school work and studying but he's holding up alright so far. He will be applying to the programs in October and will hopefully be able to start next June is he gets in the first time. This PA path is definitely challenging our faith because it's been a hard road already but we trust the Lord and are trying to keep our shoulder to the wheel (with the most positive attitudes we can muster haha).

So yes our lives have been a little crazy lately and they are about to get even more insane.... Yippee :)

trip to beeeeeea-utiful california

So since I finished my student teaching and don't have any other pressing responsibilities at the moment I decided to take advantage of my situation and headed down to California for a little bit to visit my family. Unfortunately my very responsible and awesome husband had to stay home and work while I went and had fun. Love you honey buns! Anyway, California is even more beautiful coming from Vegas..... no offense :) I never forget how much I like California but it was so nice to go there and take in the scenery again. It was a very relaxing trip, I enjoyed that a lot! We mostly hung out, went shopping at a few different places, had a movie night, went to Wood Ranch BBQ (a must!), and went to California Adventure. That was my first time; I've only been to Disneyland. I loved it! It was so much fun. I'm so glad I got to spend time with my family!

Always have to have an ice cream break at theme parks... love Tollhouse ice cream cookie sandwiches!

Does anyone else remember this? It was like one of my favorite movies when I was young haha

Only kids can manage to sleep in crazy positions like this.. amazing talent!

THE annual easter egg launch

So, another Hartshorn tradition is the egg launching at easter. On Saturday, we colored about 10 dozen eggs - with the only purpose of being destroyed the following day. Then on easter, we watched general conference at Bryan's house with Rob and Kayla and Boston and also Trevor and Shannon (James cousin). We had a great easter feast thanks mostly to the efforts of Mel (shout out Mel!!!). After we all stuffed ourselves we headed out to the middle of no where to launch eggs. All in all we had 13 dozen eggs to have a go with. My eggs were by far the cutest :) We all had a great time and we had Trevor and Shannon who were first timers so that was fun to do that with them. This is officially my third year participating in this tradition so I would consider myself a veteran now. The launching went well, besides two minor casualties on me and James (the sling shot back-fired and the eggs hit us and exploded on our legs.... it hurt! evidence shown later). This year's easter turned out to be another great one. Can't wait for next year!

James' egg launch injury

Just two of my magnificently decorated eggs :)

the sister-in-laws launch

valley of fire

This week was spring break here in Vegas. The kids had no school and Bryan and James were both home from work (it was James' weekend) so we all went to the Valley of Fire State park here in Nevada last Wednesday. James and I drove down with Bryan, Mel, and the kids for half a day to go check it out. We climbed rocks, looked at the petroglyphs (is that how you spell it?), had a picnic with hot dogs and hamburgers, and just enjoyed the scenery! The weather was great besides the major wind gusts. We had an interesting time at lunch keeping our grill lit, the food on the table, along with all the cups/plates/napkins. Made for a fun and engaging lunch. We even got to play with the chipmunks. One came right up to James and took a chip out of his hand, it was cute :) Climbing and exploring in addition to my last three months of pretty much inactivity led to a bit of sore legs the following day. All in all, the day and we all came home with sand dunes in our shoes. Seeing the rock formations and geological wonders was really fun and really cool. James and I kept trying to use our limited geology knowledge to explain why everything looked the way it did lol. It's nice to look around, once in awhile, and appreciate the beautiful nature that was created for us. It always amazes me how complex and intricate the world is; how everything works together according to the physical laws of the Earth. Crazy! How could there not be a God, seriously?

The first place we stopped James took to initiative to be the first one to climb the highest rock there. Of course he would :)

Look at us we go! We're naturals.

I'm all done.. yay!

So it is official... I have finished my student teaching! I can't believe it! I never thought this day would come when I would have no other semesters of school to dread/kinda look forward to. But I'm done. Hasn't quite hit me yet, I know I'm done, and I kinda feel like I'm done (because I know I don't have to drive to basic high school at six in the morning anymore) but it still seems surreal right now. Although I would never choose to student teach EVER again, it was a great experience and I'm glad I got to do it. I learned o much from both my mentoring teachers that would have taken quite a long time on my own. It was really comforting to know that even if things went wrong in the classroom I wouldn't get in trouble. So all those times that I messed up or thought I was doing poorly were a lot less stressful knowing my livelihood wasn't on the line! After these past few months I feel much more prepared to go teach a classroom of my own and I'm excited to have my own classroom too! We'll see what job I get (hopefully I get one). I'm going to be going to some job fairs in Houston in April so cross your fingers! Things in Vegas aren't looking too good. Basic High School wants to hire me but with the budget cuts (meaning teacher lay-offs) I'm pretty much out of the running. So Texas looks more promising so we'll see how things go.

About my teachers. Well Rachel Lutz was my Biology cooperating teacher. She was so petite and dainty, I loved her! We got along great and I could always count on her to give me the truth about things dealing with my teaching and with the school and district and so on. She was such a great example to watch, man of her procedures and activities are how I imagined I would run my classroom so that was great to get to see! Vijean Thompson was my Math cooperating teacher and I taught two of her Algebra I classes. She' been teaching for 25 years so she knows how to handle those kids! She was exactly who I needed to learn from for discipline. She really showed me what to do with trouble kids and I think I gained some guts from what I learned from her; I'm definitely more strict now than I would have been. With her help I gained more authority in the classroom which I know I'll need! She was a great mentor as well.

Rachel - Biology

Vijean - Algebra

The boys are back in town...

James's brothers, Steven and Christian, came to Vegas to hang out for their spring break. So this past week all the Hartshorn boys (minus Jeff unfortunately) have been making their mark all over town! We had so much fun with them here! We were all busy bees with all the fun stuff we've been doing this week. We started the week off with the "Blue Man Group". Then all the brothers, and Spencer, went shooting. James took the boys out on the strip where they managed to see some celebrities. We had a semi-surprise birthday gathering at the park for Kayla's birthday... Happy Birthday Kayla! We all enjoyed the donut tower cake and just sat around at the park near Rob and Kayla's house. It was so great to have everyone together hanging out and talking at the park. I went with all the brothers and raced go-karts (I got whooped!) but they had a blast! We all went to Sky Zone their last night here, it's a huge warehouse with a bunch of trampolines. Man was that so much fun and a great workout :) After out workout we all celebrated with the all-you-can-eat buffet at Green Valley Ranch. I think we all stuffed ourselves to the brim with crab legs, shrimp, apple cobblers, ice cream, pasta, salds, fruit, and anything else you can think of! We all were about to burst when we left. Before the boys left all the brothers went out to all-you-can-eat sushi (a tradition) while I was at school... so jealous! I don't know how they managed two all-you-can-eat buffets in 24 hours but they did. It was so fun to have them here and to get our minds off the bland everyday routine that we have going right now. Can't wait for the next time!

Christian shooting with Bryan.

The donut tower cake. mmmmmm.

Trampoline dunk contest in the backyard.

Hanging out at the park.

Go-kart racing.

My first time.... it was awesome!

After our Sky Zone trampoline workout.

One step closer....

Today there was a teaching job fair at BYU in provo and last minute James and I decided I needed to go and talk with the three Houston school districts that were there. So, all Thursday at school I prepared my resume, James ran around printing them out and getting things together so I could leave right after school. Ended up that James decided to come with me (its a long drive by yourself at night!) so he called in sick to work at his graveyard and we left for Provo after I was done teaching on Thursday. After the job fair we went and visited James's grandparents in Alpine and then went to lunch with my brother Derek. We had to make it home in time for James to take a nap before his all nighter tonight at work. The job fair went well and now I'm not worried about finding a job cuz everyone asked for my resume once I told them I was certified in secondary math and science education. So, with job prospects looking good in Texas, we're one step closer to figuring out what we're gunna do with our lives :) woo hoo!

Here we go...

Alright, I gave in... I'm finally on blogger! Ok so it's still a work in progress but its at least progress right? Well more will soon be coming so get excited!