Happy Moment

I have been enjoying the last few weeks of some fantastic classes. I will be sad to see them go. Right now all my classes are in the middle of completing their final projects which are all pretty cool, I must admit. Even cooler is that they are all pretty darn engaged. You know that a unit is going good, when for a few days near the middle, after they are all on course but before they all start finishing, there are moments when the whole entire class forgets to talk. It is beautiful. They are all dutifully and intently scribbling away, a complete silence has fallen over the classroom (not out of fear or boardom... but out of academic engagement!!!), and in front of every child a genuine piece of art. (art being defined as having a concept, creativity and being intentional, and in my students' case... being way cute or way cool) Anyway, we were having such a moment the other day. I sat back to enjoy it. I had to let them know what joy they brought to my heart. So I told them that I was in the middle of a "teacher Happy moment" brought on by their wonderful-ness. I can say geeky things like that to 6th graders. Then, right after that, this small fry asks "When do you go to PE?" in tone that shows how eager he is for that day! Happy moment, shattered! What? Any kid should be grief stricken at the thought of leaving my class. Right? So I say, "Dude you just ruined my happy moment." Half of the class class giggles, which is what I was going for, but the other half, were actually like "geeze guy! why'dya hafta go and ruin miss's moment!" What is this? They care? Oh sweet, happy moment is back. Then another kids starts to ask a question, but didn't get past the second word, he was shusshed by the class. Ahhh, double happy moment. I enjoyed maybe a minute more of quiet, before they were back to normal, but that is all I needed.

Lighted Farm Implement Parade

Sunnyside's lighted farm implement parade, coolest parade ever. People put christmas lights and decorations on trucks and tractors and parade them through town. I HIGHLY recommend it if you ever get the chance.

We decided that it would be really cool if the Lucky seven kids got to ride the bikes they fixed in the parade this year. I rode with them. It was the dorkiest thing ever, but I couldn't resist a chance to put christmas lights in my cruiser and ride it in a parade. I wore gold sparkly tights and a santa hat on my helmut too. Go big or go home is what I always say.

Some of our LUcky Seven "graduates".

There was 15 or so kiddos on bike and we rode circles around the Sunnyside Promise Wagon... (that is the non profit that we have been working with).

Super dork, but what sweet bike. I found it out side my parents house in deplorable shape, and so I restored it myself!

My new grown up car

I finally bought a new car! I actually paid big bucks for it too. I generally don't believe that cars are worth paying for, but I decided that I may as well get something that I like, and is gonna last a while and isn't falling apart. It wasn't easy to find a car that I actually liked, because......I don't like cars, but I do believe I found it, Subaru forester. I got it used from the sweetest retired couple in Wenatchee, they have ten grand kids, and now, as you can see, so do I.

It looks like I have my future kids' names already picked out! All ten of them, looks like I better get to work.

Our first expedition with the car. Me, Sarah, Nina nathan and Benny, we went up to the mountains to get some Christmas trees. We fit three big trees on the roof, and a little one in the trunk. They weren't all for us. You have to love the license plate.

So good bye, old cultlass. He served me well! With 215,000 miles (give or take a few thousand... the odometer stopped working at 200,000) it was his time. I was with him until his dying day. His transmission finally went out between Kennewick and Sunnyside. It wasn't a surprise. Almost two years ago, I took the car in for repairs, and my mechanic told me it was all over, and that he wasn't good for much more than around town. So that gave me full permission to run it into the ground! That is what I did, I ignored all the warning lights as they one by one lit up my dash. The engine gradually became more and more sluggish and the transmission more and more jerky. The heating and AC went out, pieces of the interior and exterior where just falling off, on a weekly basis, but the icing on the cake was my fritzed out dash board. It was all digital, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Half the time I didn't even know how fast I was going, and the rest of the time, it would flash on and off like disco club lights. I still took it all over the northwest despite my mechanic's warnings (I did put towing on my insurance though) I must say this car was valiant to the end, kicking the whole way. It was very satisfying running it into the ground. Now I'm putting it out to pasture. My gosh I am so relieved to have a car that works, but I miss the more stress free days of the cutlass. Anything could have happened to my car, and it would not have bothered me at all, but now, I would actually care if I got in a car wreck. I have to maintain my car too now. Well, ya win some, ya loose some.

Lucky Seven Bikes is OPEN!!

Oh my goodness, this is about 5 months over due, but we finally opened the doors to Lucky Seven this last week!  So far we have had 11 kids begin to fix up their bikes, and we have a waiting list of 23!  We need more volunteers to help, because apparently this was a really good idea, the kids love it and we are overwhelmed!  Oh and by the way, i made sure to advertise first and the most at my school, so that all my favorite kiddos could have first dibbs on the bikes.  (I know, I am biased... but really... can you blame me?)  There are some pretty sweet bikes too.  Three kids ended up with golden mongooses.  (Mongooses I hear are all the rage with youth)

I've been having fun with stencils lately, I wish i had more time to really learn how to spray paint.   

Here we all are watching Dan... (the Bike mechanic helping a kids with his bike)

Here is one of my dears working on his golden mongoose.

(for anybody who doesn't know) We got lots of old bikes donated, most of them had been stolen and then turned into the police (the S-town PD has been amazing with all their help, I must say they have blown stereo types out of the water.. well, many of the coppers have) we also got a bunch of bikes from Seattle!  Then we found a Church... Grace Brethren denomination, that was willing to give us a space to work in rent free!  Now kids ages 8-18 are invited to come pick out an old bike... we teach them how to tear it apart and put it back together... maintain it... ride it  safely and all that jazz, and they take it home as their own!  This is soooo exciting and has been a dream of mine for years.  Anyway, I have been so impressed with all the people trying to do good in this community.  i am very impressed by the local churches and their community out reach.  i see no end of lovely people who sacrifice and work really hard to help others.  Then i get frustrated when people at my church or on the news or just who ever, talk about this world as a bad place full of evil... it can't be that bad yet, not with so many people like this.  Anyway... coincidentally quite a few people from our the mormon church have been involved as well, the main bike guy (who is awesome)  the missionaries... they are so cute working in their white shirts and a whole family of boys and their Dad.

  Anyway, well see how it goes from here, hopefully we can recruit some help soon.

Mt. Steurt

I have been meaning to do this one fora while.  This mountain was actually pretty scary for me... it was just a scramble but there was more than a few parts where it was pretty exposed, the really fun part was the last 50 feet or so, a traverse along the very top to the summit and on either side a a sheer drop.  egads.  I don't actually do that well with heights, mostly because i actually think about what it might feel like to smash into rocks while falling really fast... can't be pretty.  So anyway, I was terrified!  As you can see from the picture below.  Oh, and that mountain is just a stack of boulders, I don't know what is holding them together..... or keeping them from sliding off the other boulders while i am climbing on one of them.  Hmm, I am informed that this is only a moderately difficult mountain... makes me feel like a sissy....  but also makes me really, excited to climb another.  I think that this is waaay fun!

Shera and marmot have conquered the beast!  There he is.... now just a pussy cat. Hooray for Lindsay, I'd never be climbing mountains if it weren't for her!  Plus, she is  super alpine cook!

Conference

Whoa, was going to go to the beach last last week end, but then a last minute opportunity cam up to go to Utah and go to conference.  I went.  It was lovely and it was nice seeing friends from Bellingham who all are in Utah.. sheesh, don't know what that is about.  

the funny part is that I had originally thought that I had a ticket waiting for me, but that fell through, but having skipped a trip to the coast to go... I was gonna be darned if i didn't go to conference.  So I prayed and then went to Salt Lake the morning of to find a ticket.  I noticed that lots of people were satnding on the corner not just with anti mormon/protest signs, but with little signs asking for tickets.  i figured the only way to get a ticket was to join the crowd.  As I was writing my little sign, a woman came up and asked me if I needed a ticket, she apologized that she only had one, and then I gave her a big hug.  I only needed one anyway.  I had wondered if HF would answer my prayer seeing as there was obviously a million other people there that day with the same prayer.  I wonder if everyone that day had their prayer answered?  I bet a lot of people did.  I'm thinking that the conference center seats and conference tickets must be like the loaves and the fishes.
Yes, this is my friend Campbell who dropped me off, weird picture.  It's a good thing he doesn't know about my blog.  HAHAHAHAHa  On the way to Salt Lake from Provo we decided to stop and listen to the first session in the park (we had left a little later than planned... and slept in... totally worth it).  He forgot to turn of the car lights.  snicker snicker (I have totally done that same thing multiple times.... I can't laugh)  So 3/4 of the way through the session, the car dies.  We spent some time trying to get some help, finally I call my insurance and they are sending a tow truck to jump start us.... but Campbell decided to say a prayer... sure enough, the car starts right up.  Totally cute huh?  I didn't think it would work, especially with help already on the way.  I have since learned that cars will do that if the battery isn't that dead, ya just have to let them sit a while.  So blessing or coincidence?  I don't know... but I wonder, if I had been twenty minutes later to Temple square... would that sweet lady have been around to answer my prayer?  Or would my ticket have been given away?  Hmmmm.  indeed.  

Timp

Some pics from my Mt. Timpanogous climb.... Really lovely mountain, and pretty easy climb, 41/2 to the summit and 2 1/2 down.  Had a blast.