White Mountain WaterFall

so i bet alot of you didn't know there is a waterfall "basically" in my backyard.

the hard part is finding a decent day to get to it... with all the summer snow we've been having ;) Well last week there happened to be a couple good days so derek and i took the four wheeler up into the white sagey-brush mountains in our backyard...

and took a very short (and i mean very short) hike up to this baby!

i had no idea it was ever even there...

next time i will be sure to bring my swimsuit and take a real freshwater shower!

WOW-ZERS!

DISCLAIMER:

what you are about to read is

surely going to blow your mind...

I taught at Lyman Intermediate School for 2 years.

i know what you are thinking... 2 years = so short!
but let me use my math skills and crunch some numbers:

I taught around 340 days...

8 hours a day x 340 days = 2,720 hours = 163,200 minutes

It takes exactly 50 minutes to get there...

50 minutes x 2 (roundtrip) = 100 minutes = 1 hour 40 minutes

100 minutes x 340 days = 34,000 minutes = 566 hours 40 minutes

It is 64 miles from my house in RS to my parking spot in Lyman...

64 miles x 2 (round trip) = 128 miles a day

128 miles a day x 340 days = 43,520 miles (on our poor cars)

Gas costs an average $3.50 a gallon and our car gets 30 mpg...

43,520 miles/30 mpg = 1450.67 gallons x $3.50 = $5,077.33 on gas

So if that doesn't put some perspective on why i resigned then your

CRAZY!

. . .

But honestly i have truly loved working at LIS and teaching.

The staff is amazing... i am going to miss them so much!

and the students are so much fun, it really has been a great two years.

I learned so much about myself and teaching in general
that i can't wait to get to do it again.

(I have an interview for RSHS on Thursday! wish me luck!)
which by the way is only like a 5 minutes drive :)

free time

so i have had the pleasure of staying home the past week! i took 4 days off of school and tried the "stay at home wife" role and absolutely loved it! I slept in until about 8am every morning, went the gym and got a really good work out in, then took a midmorning nap, made lunch, did some crafts, took an afternoon nap, made dinner, and played board/nintendo games! i am seriously considering retiring after this week! ;)

well my favorite craft this week that i made are these!

i have spring blocks and have been wanting to get some summer ones but i thought what the heck i'll just make my own and see how they turn out. LUCKILY since we are working on our basement we have a billion 2 x 4's so this project ended up costing me

NOTHING!

so i cut some wood, found some pretty colors to paint them, and got sandpaper...

I painted the blocks and i love the "stressed edges" look!

using just regular scrapbook paper i drew and cut out letters...

ModPodged them on the blocks...

outlined the letters in black puffy paint...

and added some extra "girly-ness"

AND WALA: SUMMER!

and in only 2 weeks school will be over

and summer will officially be here!

3 years

so another year down! sunday was mine and derek's 3 year anniversary... i don't know what i was thinking getting married so close to mother's day but oh well may will have to be "spoil tamika with lots of gifts" month :) well since the 8th fell on a sunday and derek worked we didn't do much of anything. however i did wake up to flowers on the counter in the morning... derek always picks out a pretty combination :)

i spent the day celebrating mother's day at derek's parents house
and that was our anniversary!

...

...

...

ok ok so we actually celebrated it on monday.

I found this cool idea on one of those craft blogs so i made some scratch cards:

you can write stuff under the circles then you color over it with white crayon (the more the better) then paint with acrylic paint over top of it. it actually works pretty well.



(there was one for breakfast, event 1, lunch, event 2, dinner, event 3, dessert, and event 4)

. . .

breakfast: CoWbOy DoNuTs

 event 1: take the pups on a walk

lunch: TGIFridays (but since we don't have one here):

event 2: bOwLiNg!

 

dinner: applebees

(insert picture here) because seriously i didn't even take one of us together!

...

event 3: wii

now you know why i married him... look at the butt move :)

...

dessert: RoOtBeEr fLoAtS

PRESENTS is always a tough call for anniversary's especially when if you really wanted something you could just get it whenever but derek is good he listens to everything i've ever said and always has something in mind... so i was super surprised when he gave me an AMP and GUITAR LESSON book! i am making my own electric guitar in "woodshop rocks" class at school and now once it's done i can actually play it!

i got derek a spotting scope (i know nothing about them, but i guess i did well)

you can't fake a smile like that:

or maybe you can???

...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DEREK!

so the other day some guy was facebooking derek asking if he'd been up to anything lately, then he said oh wait i know the answer to that, NO because there hasn't been anything exciting on your blog in months. Well thanks random guy who i don't know, but you have inspired me to post a blog that shows what we have been doing!
* * * * * * * *

1) we finished the basement livingroom and bedroom and we started on the bathroom.

We got an esitmate for a plumber to come do it for us and it would've been over$1,000 just for labor! That doesn't include us buying the tub, toilet, and sink! We thought that was pretty crazy so derek bought a how to book and has done it al himself! we spent a total of $500 and that includes buying the tools, tub, shower, faucets, and toilet!

We are planning on finishing it this month!
* * * * * * * *

2) we started an indoor garden and planted it now that the weather is nice!

derek added the manure and topsoil

then rotatiled it in...

 we planted summer squash, spaghetti squash, zuchinni, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and potatoes! hopefully it will all produce lots of food like last year cuz
i love fresh veggies!

 i also have the pleasure of having a strawberry patch :)

they never "took" last year so this year i am protecting them
and if it's the last thing i do i will have fresh homegrown strawberries!

* * * * * * * *

3) We reorganized the garage, cut up the workbench to fit our deep freezer, because we are hoping to get a truck soon and we will finally need that 3rd car garage for something besides storing all our random junk.

(so i know i just said we organized it and then i post a picture of a really dirty workbench.)
Well it is organized junk...



On a side note, we have sooo much meat in that deep freezer and i just got my hunter safety card so we are planning on getting a whole lot more this fall so we welcome any and all over for summer BBQ's whenever!

so lately that has been it. we've been down to utah often for shopping and visiting family, we've taken lots of trips to the dog park, and trying to get in shape at the gym for the summer. we're excited that school is winding down and that we'll have the summer to do some exciting things...

* * * * * * * *

 last year we accomplished a ton... and here is our list of
some of the things we hope to accomplish this summer:

. . . . .
1) Finish the basement completely

2) build another deck and overhang (to put a hot tub on) :)

(then PLAY!)

3) camp at bear lake

4) go to moab (see the arches)

5) go on a cruise