One Week Down, a lifetime to go.

Today was a full day with lots of new things happening. We hit our first week in our new house. Its been really nice and i've enjoyed slowing sorting each room out so that its usable instead of collecting storage. We both love our new bed. Me because i can sleep and not have an elbow in my face every night and Trevor because he doesn't have to worry about being in touble the next day for hitting me or stealing the covers. Today we also mailed out our address to family to that they can send us lots of wonderful things, (hint, hint) and also so anyone can come visit if they fancy it. Another reason today was such a good day is because I became an Aunt again. Our little Hetty Rose was born to my brother Elliott and wife Melissa, she was overdue and obviously had enjoyed the extra time before being born as she was 9 lbs 9oz. Its at these times that you realise how far away you really are. I'm sad i've missed the pregnancy and birth but am excited to see them in the Summer. Watch out bro, if she's as wonderful as Henry I may steal her from you.

Just had to substitute for a Physical Ed class. Not an every day occurrence but now and again I get called upon to run and cover a class. My job usually consists of sitting in a smallish classroom with my students usually 1-15 in number, students that have been kicked out of their classes due to bad behaviour. It may be because they were playing on their mobile, shouting and running around the class, truancy, fighting, drugs and much more. Basically when they can not be in their class they come to me and I teach them their subjects on a one to one basis. I also conduct the online classes for students that's behaviour has resulted in them being kicked out of school completely.
So if or when you ever have students or kids that you cannot control, that have been sent to the Principal's office or put in Juvenal detention, imagine having 15 of them each day. I love it!!!

Due to the fact that I can just send my kids back home I happen to be the on-call substitute for the school. Whenever their is a "Mrs. Shiner come quick!" I have to drop and go where they need me. Today was P.E. It went really well teaching them floor hockey and i had fun until a student decided to run into a wall.
Her mum had to come and collect her and I had to write a accident report after calming her down and administering the needed first aid. I struggled to stop myself from laughing at the sight of her run into the wall, kids do the strangest things.
I thought I would try some good-old English games as a warm up for the class so we played Stuck-in-the-mud and Shipwreck.
Overal is was a fun-filled day that i'm glad is over so I can go do some more unpacking at the house. Yay for Easter break, 4 days off school. There are definately benefits to teaching.

Spring!!

Even after the many complaints, the unpredictable rain, sun, rain, sun and lots of mud I have decided that spring is my favourite season.

First sight of the world I see each morning is the sunset; it’s absolutely beautiful, that big, blindingly bright sun shining at me as I drive to work. It’s so much better than going in the dark.

The temperature has increased enough to breathe if you go outside and not worry about the gloves, scarf, hat etc.

The fields surrounding ours has baby cows and lambs that seem to be having so much fun as they bounce everywhere.
Through the mud on the ground, I can spot little buds of tulips and other flowers I don’t know yet appearing. I think it’s wonderful that through the mud and rain and occasional snow life pushes forward and works so hard until summer arrives.
Mud; yes there is mud everywhere but the kids enjoy it so much, the dog looks so funny and we have the added excuse to ride the horses, letting them get muddy instead of us.

Yes, I love the spring and the joy that summer is on its way.

House

Family has been bugging me for pictures of our new house so her they are. The house is empty right now so had no colour or character yet, but be patient, it will come. Sorry for the long entry but thought i'd give as much as i can so i don't have to send emails later. (For the benefit of the fam.)

As you can see Trevor's not sure how he feels about having such a big debt. Luckly we can have it paid off in 15 years.

Still thinking.

Anger. "What have I done?"

Not really sure about this one, maybe "Whoops I just went pee, if i smile no one will know."

Me, well i just don't know.

So this is the house from the outside, thats Devaney (my niece) posing.

Full view of outside and front garden plus my extra dirty car. We have no grass yet but its coming this September.

The Kitchen On the left is our pantry and our laundry room that come off the kitchen. On the right is our hallway leading from the front room to the bedrooms and bathrooms.On the left is our staircase leading down to the basement. On the right is our masterbathroom, both bathrooms are pretty much identical.
Our room of love, which is pretty much the same as the other two just bigger. On the right is a section of the basement that will become our livingroom in September. (You can see the flood problem we had.)

Again more of our basement, on the right it will be split into two bedrooms and a bathroom. On the left will be a playroom, for game consoles and the lovesac, computer, table for my crafts and homework. If you look carefully at the picture on the right you can see an opening on the right hand side, that is my really big, cold storage room!!!! Yay!!!
Last but not least, our garden that looks rather bad right now. Once its dried up we will be having a patio put in coming from the steps of the house down towards the front of the pic where all the snow is. On the right side (you can't see here) i'm going to plant a vegetable patch and try my hand at growing food. Eventually sometime this year we will have grass.
So this is our house, very empty and ready to be moved into. I'm going to begin this weekend then we'll get the big boys to help us move the piano and chest freezer. The rest I think will come gradually over the next two weeks.

If you need the pictures bigger to see clearer just click on them.

New House, New Home

Eventually we have a new house. After looking at house after house and putting offers in and them falling through we closed on our house yesterday and get our keys today.
I so excited and grateful to be able to own a home with Trevor. We've been so blessed to live with parents for the last two years, it has taught us alot and enabled us to save a pretty package.

Our New Home:
Its in Vernal, Utah, USA.
It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The biggest pantry ever. Yay!!
Beautiful big yards that at the moment are mud but will be green soon.
A huge unfinished basement that will become a living room, playroom, storage room, 2 more bedrooms and a bathroom this coming year.

I'm so excited to get in and get things sorted and have Trevor help with the big stuff before he starts his new job on April 12th.
Its been a testimony strengthener to remember how much Heavenly Father watches out for us. We were beginning to get diflated about this house as the closing date went from January into February and then into March, we just couldn't understand why. Now we know. Two weeks ago we went to check the house out to find that the basement had been flooded, if we had closed we would have had to pay for everything. As it worked out the builder had made a small mistake and is coming in to fix the whole thing for us.
The Lord really does know our lives and guides us step by step. I'm thankful that Trevor and I had the patience this time round to wait and watch him work.
Pictures to come soon. Yay!!!!

Keeping Busy

I’ve been really impressed recently how many shows and activities Vernal has available and so frequently. Last month there was an African Dance company but unfortunately I couldn’t make that one.

The month before was a concert with Jon Schmidt a composer and pianist. Excellent!! I had so much fun and enjoyed listening to him play, tell stories, really entertain the crowd and spending time with my niece and sister-in –law. One of my favourite tunes has been put on YouTube. Take the time to check it out by putting Jon Schmidt love story meets viva la vida into Google. It’s an 8 minute song that he wrote combining Love Story by Taylor Swift and Viva la Vida by Cold Play.

This month has been a spiritual one. Earlier on our church stake had a relief society meeting which was based on the theme open your heart. The Presidency chose 14 sisters throughout the stake to read the book ‘A Heart Like His: Making Space for God's Love in Your Life’ by Virginia H. Pearce and challenged them for three months to follow the book and open their hearts. Our meeting involved singing and testimonies from the sisters that took part. It was a very touching meeting that I enjoyed. I was blessed to be able to sit on the stand as our ward performed a musical number and was able to see the faces of the sisters in the stake as they cried and smiled and felt the spirit there. (Check out song on Sally Deford music http://www.defordmusic.com/writethynameuponmyheart.htm).

Also this month, in fact it this Saturday just gone, I attended Vernal’s yearly Women’s Conference. Our guest speaker was Hilary Weeks. I’m already quite familiar with her and her music so really enjoyed myself hearing her stories and listening to old and new songs. Again the spirit was there and the sisters in the room (over a thousand) all sang and laughed together. It was nice to see how funny she was on and off the stage (chatted to her in the bathrooms).
I’m grateful to be able to attend so many fun and interesting events that allow me to witness and enjoy others talents and spend time with family. I’m excited for the ones still to come.

Man's Best Friend...

Never really been a dog person. We grew up always having a cat in the house and I always thought dogs were smelly and dirty and well frankly I didn’t like it when they jumped up at you, barked, and licked people’s faces.
In the last 6 months we’ve had a dog. Not just any dog the most wonderful animal in the world. She is officially Trevor’s dog but has been living with his parents while he was at school and over in England.

Let me tell you about this dog. Her name is Page; she is a six- year old yellow lab. She’s beautiful. When she is outside she runs and jumps and goes mad with a crazy amount of energy. When she’s inside she sits quietly and just wants to be next to you. She is amazing with the nephews and nieces and has the sweetest disposition.

It’s strange to say but since I’ve been here I’ve been working a lot and other than Trevor, Page has become my best friend. She follows me everywhere. When I pull down the drive way after work she runs to the side of the car welcoming me home.
This last week Page has been really quite ill; she’s been in a lot of pain and hasn’t had a bowel movement for 4 days. After begging Trevor to take her to the vet we eventually got her sorted for now. (Another new experience having to give her an enema.) She has a really bad case of arthritis and troubled bowels. Unfortunately I think she is going to continually be in pain.
I was surprised how upset I was seeing her struggling, just wanted to take away her pain. I understand now what people say about a dog being a man’s best friend for she truly is mine.