bloggable

I usually have at least one thing make me laugh each day in my classroom, but this was actually worth writing about. I think this is something that we all wish we would have done at some point in our lives, or actually did (patience?), but the ending is something you would wish would happen to someone else. Okay here goes nothing.

I am in the classroom calling roll... (by the way, the names are all changed, because I don't remember the actual name of the kid.)

Me: "Anthony?"

Kid: "Que pasa hombre?"

Me: "What?"

Kid: "Oh, Uh, no hablo inglis."

Me: "Esta bien, hablo espanol."

Kid (with an appropriate expression of disbelief on his face): "Well, in that case..."

Class: Laughing out loud.

Tough break when you try and tell the teacher you don't speak english and they don't fall for it. Don't worry, I gave him tips at the end of the class hour about how he could actually get away with it next time. Such as...don't call a female teacher "hombre". Got to love sophomores.

My little brother...

My brother has had a lot of things going on recently. For example, yesterday was his birthday, and just a short time ago his wife had a baby, and well it wasn't that long ago he got married...you get the picture. So since I got to go to BYU with him when he was just starting, I thought I would share some pictures that you might not have seen of Ian. Happy birthday Ian.

Only in Alaska

I was coming home yesterday from somewhere and while driving down the road my mom and I saw a disabled 4-wheeler. That is not unusual, what was however was the driver who was trying to fix it was wearing high-water, blue checked pajama bottoms with brown water boots, and a heavy winter coat.

Only in Alaska...I laughed the rest of the way home.

Summer

This summer was full of sunshine, friends, and family. I feel blessed that I have all three. I know from the friendly reminders that I haven't posted in a while, so I thought that I would just give you a glimpse of what happened to me in July. I spent the fourth of July in a cabin with my parents, my sister, and her family. We had lots of fun and you should all see the pictures posted on her blog. After the fourth was my birthday.

For my birthday, two of my good friends and I went swimming. (yes Tiffany, 78 is hot enough to jump in a lake) We waited about 10 minutes after we got out of the water to decide that we were also hungry and then we went to IHOP. Good friends, good food, good memories. After this celebration on my real birthday, I took a day off of work in the middle of the week and took my mom hiking. We headed up to one of my favorite spots ever, Reed Lakes.

We started are hike at about 9:30 and by lunch time we had made it to the first lake. The photos are good, but you should have been there. The lake really was that turquoise blue color, and the day was perfect. The sun was shining, and we were some of the only people on this popular trail. That was probably a good thing for mom since I made her pose for pictures. One of my favorite pictures is the one of the Marmot posed on a triangular rock. I defiantly learned that to balance on a point lots of fat hanging over both edges is important.

The sun has been shining, and the summer has been wonderful. August was a month full of family, but I didn't take the pictures, so you will just have to see if one of my family did.

I look forward to whatever adventures await me in the fall, and if I take pictures, then I promise to post.

An encounter with a mother

So as some of you know, I am now back in Alaska. The trip was good and we saw lots of bears. As others of you know when in Alaska, I spend my Tuesday nights doing this:

Or in other pictures, this:

For those of you that have no idea what this and this are, I go hiking. It is one of the things that I look forward to most each week. This last Tuesday a group of us went up Wishbone (in Sutton). My mom and I were the first up what is known as the chute and so due to the narrowness of the trail we continued on ahead while the rest of the group headed up. We were on a ridge-line of sorts, and were not really talking. I was going down the trail first when I came upon one of these:

I immediately pointed it out to my mom, and we both started talking. She to me, and me to the moose. Here moose, moose, moose...in a very conversational polite tone. I asked the moose to please let us past as we were not going to hurt it in any way and we were almost at our destination. While talking to the moose, we kept walking. The moose just looked at me. Then the moose started to paw the ground and huff and puff at me. She put her head down and was giving every sign of unhappiness at my position.

I turned around and said to my Mom, we should go that way, and we should do it fast. I pointed to where we had just come from, and then proceeded to help her along with my running into her. The moose just watched. We got a safe distance away (aka I could keep my eye on the moose and she could do the same for me) and waited for the group. They caught up, and I again walked toward the moose, and got the same results. Then I saw one of these:

That explained all. We ended up bushwhacking our way around, giving her plenty of room, and then continuing on our way. An adventure worth having, and one more thing that I can now say I did.

By the way, the 360 degree picture at the top was worth every huff and puff from both me and the moose. Oh and my Mom is coming with me again next week.

A sigh of relief...

I just finished grading the third of four finals, and it looks like everyone will pass this year. Tomorrow in celebration I am going to bring root beer floats.

Last weekend, we got the day off on Friday. So instead of using my time and packing and getting ready for a week in the car, I decided to go and see Santa. And as you can tell I did. I even went in his Christmas village.



Okay so truth be told, I did not just go to see Santa, it just happened and well any time I can get a word in with him before Christmas, things just seem to happen. In reality I went to hang out with George, Tom, Teddy, and Abe.



Yep, I went to Mt. Rushmore. It was awesome.



They had a rock tunnel that you could go into to get the picture above, and well I almost didn't leave it was really incredible.





This was my first ever view of what they call a mountain sculpture. Who grows up thinking that is what they would like to be when they grow up? I also learned that Rushmore was named after a lawyer who happened to be passing through at the right time. He asked the sculptor what the mountain was called. The reply was that it was not yet named, but would now be known as Rushmore. It kind of makes me want to ask questions.

Anyway Rushmore was a cool mountain, but on the recomendation of some friends, I also went to see Crazy Horse. It was even larger. But maybe not as impressive yet cause it is not done.



The story behind this monument is almost as impressive as how Rushmore was named. This one was commissioned by the Lakota chiefs. After finding the scultpor to do the work, it has been worked on for like 50 years. As you can see it is not done. That is because this is not a national park and all the funds come from dontaions and the door admission. The mountain will some day look just like the white statue, but since they will not take federal money, I do not know when it will finally be done.



Just to give you some prespective on size, the hole that you can see that looks like a tunnel is large enough to fit a 10 story building. Yeah, I was shocked too.

So my words of advice to all who have a long weekend...go and see something that you have never before seen. And for all that are wondering, yes this was definitly worth the 6.5 hour drive.