The Mother Land

I hopped the pond and gained a European stamp in my passport. At last! I jumped at the opportunity to see the land of my inheritance…ie… the land of my ancestors. It was a whirlwind voyage with endless trips to the pub….don’t read into that! Pubs are the best spot for succulent food. Especially Sticky Toffee Pudding (which we appraised everywhere we went and used our self derived rating system as the judge. FYI the best one came from the Red Lion in a small village in Scotland). I was away for 20 days, I could have stayed away forever. It was more than lovely. What’s lovelier than proper English Tea, greenness everywhere, and that refined accent? I was bewitched, totally and completely. My adventures include but are not limited to: ALL things Jane Austen, touring random mansions, the Lake District, train stations, driving around a single roundabout multiple times, fish and chips, crumpets, English chocolate, Jane Eyre sites, Broadway plays with accents, thousands of pictures, a service at Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Irish Men, traditional Irish music at the pub, Scottish plaid, staying in the village of my people (literally), and stalking my long lost dead in various Scottish cemeteries. Wait, I forgot the shopping. There was plenty of that to be done! My new spray paint tagged luggage was bursting! Here goes, the rundown via photos.
Jane Austen's inspiration for Pemberley
Elizabeth Bennet's comments on Permberley: It came
on so slowly I hardly know... but I believe I must
date it from the time I first saw his wonderful
grounds at Pemberley.

The Apollo something or other. In the new P&P
where Darcy and Elizabeth hook it up!

My new home:)

Jane Austen's Home
The very place were genious was brought about!
Rosings Park from the BBC version.

The most agreeable man in all of England...at
this moment he stated..."Oh behave!"

Proper English Tea. Gorgeous!
Cathedral in York
Shakespear's home
The Lake District....stole my heart!
London
London Eye
Trafalgar Square - Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
**IRELAND**
Skipping rocks with the wee little duckies
My favorite PUB - Amazing traditional music I feel in
love with many a musicians here!
Amazing ruins of a church.
**SCOTLAND** my heart still skips a beat
Clackmannan - The village of my Patterson ancestors
Looking out over Clackmannan
My boyfriend working hard for the money
Total nerd with my genealogy sheet!

Local Perish Church

Family headstone...I've got a lot of headstone pics to sort through in order to figer out the link of my kindred dead

I am certain that I will someday return! I merely got a taste. Walking where my ancestors walked was a blessing. They gave up a beautiful country for what they firmly believed in. The faith of those gone before me has impacted my own faith. I will sign off with...to be continued...in hopes that I will return.

A few random moments

Quick blog update before I head out of the good ole USA. It wouldn't be the 4th of July if I wasn't out of the country. So in the mood of being patriotic, I'm headed to England. I'll make stops in Texas, England, Ireland, Scotland, Paris, and CA in the next month. However, the past few weeks since school has been out have been eventful. Here goes:

Rodeo with friends

Hot Air Balloon Ride (thanks Drew)

Kirstin's Triathlon

Cheering Kirstin along was so much fun. She's amazing and these people made me jealous of my inability. Some day perhaps!

Rain Ruins Everything

I must start by reiterating the title, “Rain Ruins Everything!” Recently, my hopes have been high for many outside occasions. I possessed an unwinterized desire for fresh air and sun kissed skin. At last, perhaps I could put aside my winter coats, winter gloves (which were lost most of the season), scarves (except for the ever so cool springish trendy scarves), car scraper (well hypothetically since I never purchased one), winter boots (of which I don’t really have), and winter unmentionables.
Back to the rain. It seems that for the past few weeks, heck let’s go for a month, the weatherman dauntingly inhabits my thoughts with his forecast….”scattered showers!” Why doesn’t he just come out and say the inevitable….”scattered showers today with a high chance of dashed hopes, dreams, and unforgettable recreation. Forget about summer…..it’s Spring in MAY…and beyond!”

Things that rain ruins:
1. Hershey Track Meet: Talk about 60 third graders full of impending excitement and ready to run. It’s the best day of the year! No learning, no structure, and mere chaos. We have been preparing for this event all year. I suddenly became boot camp drill sergeant. It wasn’t a successful PE if I didn’t have at least 20 kids asking why I was trying to kill them. I kindly reminded them that it is called PHYSICAL EDUCATION and that kickball did not qualify. Rain canceled our track meet TWO times! It is rescheduled for tomorrow (yeah during summer break)…and what do we have forecasted? RAIN
2. Stake FHE outside. I won’t go into the gory details. Canceled due to rain.
3. Last week of school….when we actually have time to play outside and have extended recess (every child’s and teacher’s dream). RAIN
4. Rain ruins any outdoor wedding, bar mitzvah, horse race, Easter egg hunt and tea party.
5. Leather coats
6. Any day at the pool
7. Worms. Scenario: it rains, worms come out, worms get smooshed and squooshed or used as bait. RUINED
8. Drought…. Rain destroys a good drought…even a drought of biblical proportions.

I could continue making quite an extensive list full of tear jerking heartbreaks. But alas, I concede under the pretense that you agree. However, at the conclusion of my mediocre brilliance I must be partial and leave you with a few arguments for the other side.
Things that rain does not ruin:
1. Kissing. Who doesn’t want to kiss in the rain…hello it’s romantical!
2. Gardens….I do believe that rain is quite beneficial for gardens.
3. A rainstorm. Rain does not ruin a rainstorm.
4. Umbrellas, galoshes, raincoats, windshield wipers…etc.
5. Basketball games (always indoor and never have to be rescheduled).
6. Slippin-slide party……slippery without rain, slippery with rain….nothing ruined.
7. A holiday BBQ in Oregon….it was already scheduled inside due to the nature of the climate in that particular region. Not ruined.

I do like rain when it complies with my convenience. I little courtesy would go a long way!

It has been a long time...

Well well, here me meet again. My lonely blog must feel pretty abandoned! Sometimes we feel that we must experience something extraordinary in our lives for it to be note worthy to be documented, published, and shared. I am learning that if we wait for the extraordinary, we miss the miraculous ordinary. "They" have scoffed at ordinary in an attempt to make us feel under-par, boring, mundane, and imply that we lead lives of no consequence. So here I am, peering into the ordinary and seemingly mundane to find the beautiful simplicity of which I have been blessed. Joy in simplicity....shall be my new reality, which in fact, just may be extraordinary.

Angel's Landing = Amazing Time

Summer was officially over and I needed one last adventure. I ventured to Zion's National Park with some old college friends (not old due to age, but old due to how long I've known them). I can only remember going to Zion's once as a teenager. After a few minutes there, I realized that I had truly been missing out. People come from all around the world to participate in one of Utah's majestic landscapes. Why had I not done this before?

As a large group we set out to enjoy a hike. With varying levels of hiking ability we couldn't decide on a hike. I was determined to complete Angel's Landing. I was ready to conquer the mountain alone but was happy to do it with three other friends.

Being somewhat out of shape, I was in for a task. Good thing I brought a healthy dose of determination. Consequently, we commenced the hike during the hottest part of the day and with limited water resources. Thanks to a friend, I was given a life saving camleback and some snacks to help me complete my goal.

It was pretty tough. An elderly man descended the mountain with a t-shirt that said, "Retired Stripling Warrior." If this guy could complete the hike, then I better be able to do it if I cared for an ounce of dignity.

The best part of the hike was clinging to chains while practically dangling from the side of the mountain. At one point, I was holding on to the chain which was posted in between two drop offs. I loved it! Living on the edge satisfies my need for adventure. At times, I was probably a little too trusting of my ability to balance.

It was an exhilarating feeling standing on top of Angel's Landing. That wasn't enough, so I had to climb on top of the highest point. There's nothing like proving to yourself that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind on.

*accomplished hikers are probably scoffing at my account of Angel's Landing...they probably "run" up it in ten minutes with no water...sorry, I'm a beginner!

The Anatomical Blurt

Setting: My third grade classroom, Payson, Utah. Controlled chaos (only at times).

Time: Writer's Workshop after lunch.

Characters: Drop dead gorgeous teacher (ahem), 28 rugrats (mostly all cute..lol), and the bee that was tormenting the female students.

Topic: Revising a rough draft. In the words of my students..."adding words."

My students are young authors who feel that they can write one draft and be done. Most of them can't write in complete sentences, so you can imagine what their work is like. If you can get kids to learn how to evaluate their own writing through revision, reading about their entire trip to Disneyland is less painful.

I pulled out my latest memoir (a story about a small moment in your life) and was teaching the kids how to revise by reading each sentence and deciding how they could make it better. I happened upon the sentence "Fear swept through my body." I stated that I thought it was a great sentence but I could change the word "body" to a better word. So I started thinking about options.....the kids started shouting out options as well, "veins, bones, insides, mind" etc. My golden student (no really he is, he's got blonde hair, hence the golden, and is amazing) shouted out an unfamiliar word to most other third graders. I nearly died, passed out, expired, what have you. I couldn't laugh or draw any attention to his remark so that other kids (well pretty much the entire class) would hopefully not notice and we could move on. Fighting back tears of laughter I had to leave the room and tell them to get to work.

You are asking, "What was the word?" "What did he say?" I'm only dragging it out for supsense purposes. The funniest thing in the history of blurting out in class was......TESTICLES, TESTICLES, TESTICLES....yep, he shouted it three times. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn't trying to be a rascal and say something inappropriate. It was all complete inosense. I'm pretty sure he didn't know what he was saying. Somebody must be getting the Bird's and the Bee's talk at home bacause that was most certainly NOT a recent spelling word. I'm sure his mother will be mortified when I finally get a hold of her. No parent wants a call concerning their child and the word testicle.

So, here is the sentence (from my memoir about a near death rafting trip) in my student's point of view...... "Fear swept through my Testicles." Sounds more like a man's memoir about his manly, husband abusing wife.