The Trek

What do you get when you take 2 of these...Plus one of these...
Plus 1,647 miles?
... a whole BUNDLE of MAD CRAZY FUN!


We finally got all of this:

to fit!

YAY! With room to throw all of our cleaning supplies in at the end!

The only problem was the dolly that they gave us for our car had the back 2 wheels dragging and we discovered that since our car is such a "low rider" it wasn't going to work. Of course, we realize this AFTER they are closed, so instead of getting an early start, we got to sleep in until the Budget rental place was open. By 9am we had our new car trailer and we were ready to hit the road!

Are you ready for 30 hours of driving? *serious driving face*

We had just finally crawled to the top of a hill somewhere between Utah and Wyoming at 20mph (in a 65mph zone), barely escaping an overheated engine, just to see this ahead of us:

This is us battling the hill. When I took this picture, we were going a whopping 15 mph. I watched as the cloud shadow overtook and passed our truck.

Beautiful cliff faces

The clouds in Wyoming were stunning! I've never seen anything like them!

This quaint town was the last we would see for a while...

We passed a refinery! I thought the flame was neat.

I think the song "Wide Open Spaces" was written about Wyoming. It was stuck in my head the whole time.

Does anyone know what these partial fences are for? This question kept me busy for hours. I came up with lots of interesting (though none of them convincing) hypotheses. They obviously aren't to keep animals in or out or away from anything, because we saw plenty of cows moseying their way around them.

This one is for Stacey:

Brian kept telling me to check the trailer-- this was my view. I just kept hoping it was still attached!

This pretty much sums up Nebraska:

Who knew that the National Cabella's headquarters are in the middle of nowhere?!

This sunset was so neat, I wish it had come out on the picture!

After our first day of travel, we stopped in North Platte, Nebraska at a tiny hotel. We pulled in and then realized that we couldn't get out. While it is technically possible to back up a truck with a trailer, they told us numerous times to avoid it, and after about 40 minutes of trying to, we knew why. No matter which way we turned the wheel, it seemed like the trailer had a mind of it's own on where it wanted to go. It was impossible. We were both so frustrated and we didn't know what to do, when a lady drove up. She rolled down her window and said "Go Cougars!" She drove around back to see if there was a way we could just pull the truck through and come around on the other side... Luckily, it worked! We probably would've figured it out eventually, but we were so grateful for her help! Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of the ordeal, we had our minds on other things.

Day 2

I thought this huge bridge was kind of random.

It's a misty moisty morning!

We saw so many of these! My favorite (I didn't get a picture, some trees were in the way) was painted like a golf ball on a tee!

Wagon Building

"The People of Iowa Welcome you!" --Why, thank you.

We passed a sign saying "road flooded ahead"... they weren't kidding!

We were just glad that it wasn't closed!

I love this picture: doesn't it remind you of the movie "Cars"? I can just imagine the big semi saying "Who do you think you are, parking over with the big boys?"

This sign was the theme of our trip, I think. We saw our share of road construction!

We actually had to use the weigh stations!

Elementary school pictures, anyone?

Kansas City

I was trying to get a shot of this bridge they are building, but the road looks like it's bending in an earthquake or something.

Home of the Kansas City Royals

Refueling.... 10mpg, baby!

This is in Ozark county. I can just imagine Billy out hunting coons with Old Dan and little Ann!

We stayed on the west side of St. Louis, right next to the airport. You can see the airport radar tower in the background, that's how close we were.

The historic St. Louis arch!

Dun Dun Dun! See upcoming post "Mile Marker 32.5" for full story.

Brian took this picture while driving because I was on the phone with the electric and water companies trying to get everything turned on.

We are so close!

The hills surrounding Nashville are gorgeous! It reminds me of Oregon.

Finally, Nashville!

I GOT A JOB!

My trip to Nashville 3 weeks ago was not in vain! I had a few good interviews and I got to see our townhome (holy SPACIOUS!)!

In one of my interviews, I met a wonderful principal who actually didn't have any positions at her school open, but she (for some reason) just loved me. Ever since I got back to Utah, she has been emailing me and calling me and taking my resume around to all of her principal friends.

Yesterday she called me (I was in Old Navy at the time):

Principal: *heavy southern accent* Hi Nat-lie! How are you?
Me: I'm great! How are you doing?
Principal: Fine! I'm just here with my best friend having lunch and she has a 4th grade position open, do you want to talk to her?
Me: Oh! Sure! Yes, please.

I talked with her friend who told me all about her school and then said that she is in the middle of moving and working on her dissertation so she is really busy. She said that since her best friend was just singing my praises she was going to trust her best friend and hire me. (!!!!!!)

So I will be teaching 4th grade in the city of Madison, Tennessee!! It is just a 15 minute drive from where we are living in Nashville! I am so excited!

Life is Crazy

We'll probably have a great post later on with pictures and the whole shabang but for now, here's what we're up to:

Last week was the last day of school for Elementary School. School ended at noon. After a faculty luncheon and a not-so-quick cleaning up of the classroom, we went home and to bed at 6:00pm. We woke up at 12:00 midnight and began the 12-hour trek to Tucson, AZ. Crazy, you might say. Some might agree. We would do it again any day. It was worth driving half of the trip in the dark (we do not have tinted windows and when the sun came out in full force our car was an oven!), and it was nice to be the only ones on the road basically until Flagstaff.

We've been in Tucson since last Friday, soaking up the sun, stuffing ourselves with Mom's cooking, bruising each other in dodgeball, and playing plenty of rounds of "Bang!" It's been so nice to just relax... until Wednesday.

On Wednesday, I emailed a principal in Nashville who had invited me to tour her school and schedule an interview. I told her that I was not going to be in Nashville until July but I would love to speak with her over the phone. We emailed back and forth for a while, and then talked on the phone a bit, and she told me she really "needed" me to fly to Nashville to interview with her on Monday. AH! All of a sudden, I had a to-do list on my vacation:
1. get a flight to Nashville
2. arrange for a couch to sleep on in Nashville
3. figure out how to rent a car in Nashville
4. go shopping for interview-appropriate clothes
5. try to line up more interviews

So, we bought a flight to Nashville-- poor Brian gets to drive back to Provo alone with my 16-year-old brother and his friend who are EFY-bound.

We contacted some friends that we met when we went to Vanderbilt Second-Look Weekend who not only found me a place to stay, but offered to pick me up at the airport and let me use a car!

My mom took me shopping (thank heavens for mothers) for appropriate clothes.

And I've spent the last 2 days emailing/calling principals to try to line up more interviews with not much luck. I even applied to all of the open middle school positions! (that would be scary... but I could do it)

I can't believe how blessed we are!
Blessing #1: I actually have an interview with a principal that is very interested in me!
Blessing #2: I have a second interview with a principal that seems mildly interested in me.
Blessing #3: We met wonderful people last time we were in Nashville who are being so kind and helping me out!
Blessing #4: I get to see our townhome and meet our landlady while I am there!
Blessing #5: The director of my ESL class didn't seem too bothered that I am missing the first 2 days of class.

Hopefully I walk away from this experience with a job, but even if I don't, it has really shown me how blessed we are!

3rd Grade

(More coming soon about the last day of school)

I just wanted to clarify that *tear!* in the previous post really translated into: *many tears*sob*more tears*sob*sob*... etc.

And the process repeats itself every time I get an email from a parent telling me that their son/daughter misses school.

I miss those kids.

Our timeline

7 1/2(school) Days left of 3rd Grade at Canyon *Tear!*
13 Days until we go to AZ
39 Days until Natalie is ESL endorsed
44 Days until we go to OR
56 Days until we leave Provo on our cross-country trek
58 Days until we start our next adventure

...in NASHVILLE TENNESSEE!

A to Z book

Throughout the year my students make several class books. I especially love doing A to Z books. Most recently we made A to Z books for the secretaries at our school (Mrs. Higginson is Awesome, Beautiful, etc). Each kid gets a different letter and it makes it more fun to read rather than having all the kids do the same thing.

We were reading an A to Z artifact book that had all sorts of different historical artifacts, so we made our own 2010 A to Z artifact book. The criteria was: 1. What is it? 2. What is it used for? 3. Who uses it? This is some of what they came up with: (I thought they were hilarious, and in some cases very clever)

A is for Apple. We uss apples for snaks. Apples have been around for a long time.

B is for Base (Bass). It is So tall it is hard to play! You play it with musicians at a place. Anytime you want.

C is for Camal (camel). a camal is ugly. and fat. and stoopid. and lets people ride on them.
(We only talk about capitalization EVERY DAY. Not to mention complete sentences... c'mon kid)

E is for Easter Eggs. Lots of people use easter eggs because it is a holaday! Lots of people use them a lot. Lots of places.

F is for Fish. Pleople used fish for oil to keep their skin from becomeing dry. Ther are a lot of kid of fish in the world. Fish oil is used in peels too. They have been around a long time. They live in rivers, seas, lakes, and ponds.

I is for Ice Cream. Ice cream is A flavored liquid frozen. Boys and girls use ice cream. It has been around for tons of years.

K is for Killowate. scientists use if for lights and phones.

M is for Megaphone. A person who talks to a large crowd uses one of these. It's like a cone, or electric device that amplifies the sound of a voise. You can use it at places such as track meats, circuses, and places with large crowds to get their attention. I don't know how long it's been around.
(haha an 8 year old who uses "device" and "amplifies." There's 1 in every class)

N is for Naked. A person without clothes. You will be in your home. You would be without clothes, uncovered, nude. You would be naked when you are in the shower.

P is for Platashin 3 (playstation3) It is the best. it has games. it is kool. I dont care when it was made.

R is for Ravioli. it is a type of pasta. It was started in Italy. lots of people use it. and like it.

T is for Treat. Some thing that is very good and tastey. Everyone likes this.



I love 3rd grade.

Brian's Graduation

Brian graduated! We didn't do a very good job of getting pictures, we may add some more later when we get them from various family members off of their cameras.

We started off the day with a very exclusive breakfast (only 3 graduates and their families were invited). It was put on by the Honor's Program, and Brian got invited because he had been selected as the student speaker for commencement (the other students were speaking at the Honor's Luncheon). The food was delicious!

We went straight from the breakfast to a run-through at the Marriot Center. I had a fun time acting like paparazzi and taking pictures of Brian. :)

The two graduates!

After the run-through, there was an Honors Luncheon and then there was the Commencement ceremony! Brian got to sit in a small pavilion with President Samuelson and all the other big-wigs while all the graduates promenaded past.

Here's a picture of him on the stand with all the dignitaries after they came into the Marriot Center. He said that Elder Christofferson's body guard was disguised as a dean sitting right behind the apostle! (he was the only "dean" with a pistol and an earpiece...)
Brian did a fantastic job on his talk!


We got a picture with Elder Christofferson and President Samuelson after the ceremony, but not on our camera.... so stay tuned!

Congrats Brian! Only 9+ years of education left.... ;)