DC/Virginia Trip '12 cont'd

After a couple days of touring DC area, Brady got a couple days off and we all went on a mini-road trip to Virginia Beach. We stopped at a little diner on our way for some good breakfast...and grits.

When we got to our hotel we had a little pool time before hitting up the beach.

Here's one of the cute entrances to the beach. There was a different theme for each little entrance.

Sand baby!

Miss her!

For dinner we went to another place on Lane's list from Triple D. This place was called Beach Pub and it had all-you-can-eat flounder. Lane was saving up the most calories for this place (although we ate a lot prior to). It was also pretty delicious. All the restaurants he chose from Triple D were so worth it!

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It was one of those restaurants that provide you with crayons to draw on your place mat and they hang a lot of those pictures on the wall...so I found it appropriate to draw Guy Fieri, since he helped make it famous. I don't know if it made it on the wall, but I'd like to think it did.  ;)

During relax time, Leo and I had a little chalk therapy outside. Have I ever mentioned how cute this kid is?

We went down to the beach again that night and got some ice cream. There was a band playing in a little amphitheater, and some older couples were gettin' their grooves on so we found it entertaining to sit and watch. I was impressed with the town, it was pretty cute!

Leo got chocolate-wasted and grew a chocolate goatee. He was gettin' his groove on too.

Another cute entrance

Cute mama with baby May

Oh those boys...

Our time quickly came to an end. I don't like goodbyes, and not only did I have to say bye to my best friend again and favorite lil' Leo, but there was another cute face added to the sadness.

We sure do love this little Harker family. We built some great memories with them. It was like nothing changed since they moved (other than the addition to the family) and we already miss them like crazy. Thanks for the great trip, tours, hospitality, and memories Brady, Leah, Leo and May! We love you!

DC/Virginia Trip '12

I experienced my first red eye flight to the east coast. I wasn't a fan ... but it was worth it! We had such a great trip visiting our friends and touring DC and Virginia. I didn't feel like we were doing very much while we were there, until I looked through our pictures, and then I realized we did so much in that short 5 days! The first day while Brady was at work, Leah took us on a tour of the monuments and memorials:

The White House

Washington Monument

 WWII Memorial

MLK Jr Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

This was my favorite! I don't know why but I was so excited to actually see this one in person.

We got to experience the Metro plenty. I know you're just supposed to look at the map and the different colored lines, but I think I would need more than a week to figure that out. It's too hectic, confusing, and rude for me. I'll stick with driving my car down a couple one-ways here in the valley!

Library of Congress

Lane planned out all our meals; mostly by researching the best restaurants from Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. The first stop on his list was Ben's Chili Bowl. I'll tell you what - there was a reason Guy Fieri decided to film there! ~SO delicious~ Great service, spectacular food, decent pricing, and famous (byPresident Obama, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, and others).

The second day we spent more time touring different lines of the Metro rather than touring the city (we took some wrong trains). Our first destination was China Town. It was pretty pathetic. These pictures were about it for the town. We ate at a restaurant there; which was okay.

We stopped at the Natural History Museum. It wasn't very exciting, but Leo was pretty cute with the huge elephant at the entrance! He had gone to the zoo prior to our visit and when they went over to the elephants, the elephants were "hiding in the rocks." Well he obviously hadn't gotten over the fact that they were hiding, so the whole time we were there he walked around saying. "ele-fents..hidingin..therocks." Pretty stinkin' cute, that kid is.

After taking a break and playing with those cute kids (Leo and May) in the park...

...we walked around Georgetown (the college town) to find the next restaurant on Lane's list, Good Stuff Eatery. We did a lot of walking for this one, but again, it was worth it! We had some amazing burgers! Plus, we got to see so many "out-of-a-movie" cute homes like these:

Next time we go there I would like to visit the Holocaust Museum. We would have gone but we wanted to actually spend time with Brady, Leah and the kids and it just wasn't realistic to bring the kids in; but, there's another excuse to go visit them again!

CWU Graduation 2012

I am very proud to say that I am a college graduate with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education. It took me a couple years longer than I was planning but with taking time to get married and transferring schools across states, I still made it! I have had so much support, especially from my husband. He pushed me to finish and I don't believe I would have without him. I am so grateful that I did, and that I had the wonderful cohort to go through the program with.

I have built so many great memories and friendships with this group of awesome teachers. I am proud of us all! I have made one friend, in particular, who stuck with me the whole time. Sunnie's husband was deployed (Marines) for the majority of our 2year program. We have been each other's support. We became friends instantly because we were both young and married, have many of the same values, a lot of the same pet peeves and are OCD about similar things, and we have very similar personalities and senses of humor. She has been a huge support and example to me, we have spent many, many hours together, and we have become great, life-long friends out of these two years!

I couldn't have finished without the support from my family either. My parents have listened to me vent, complain, and brag. My in-laws-- the same-- as well as helped me financially. All these great people came to celebrate this milestone in my life with me (not to mention, sat through the freezing ceremony for 2 hours)! Thanks for every one's encouraging words, support, questions, and advice. I can't thank you enough.

**My brothers told me they wouldn't be coming because Devin was just finishing his semester in Hawaii and it would be tough to move all his belongings to Washington and then California, and Trevor had to work and couldn't afford it. I completely understood! BUT...I was at school celebrating my last day with my 2nd graders and my brothers completely surprised me! I am SO happy they were able to come! We were all extra bummed that Britt wasn't able to make it...life called and it was expensive.

I wanted change with my hair after I graduated. I wanted my long hair for pictures with my cap and gown and then two days later I chopped it off! It was getting so long and hot and heavy and would get caught on things. As long as I've waited for it to get to its length, and as pretty as it was (sometimes), I just had to get rid of it. I figured since I had so much of it (11+ inches), I might as well donate it to Locks of Love so that somebody who'd appreciate it could use it rather than tossing it! It feels so much better and I love it! Now bring on the summer!

**More pictures to come of my awesome grad party and time with my family**

For those of you wondering about my plans: I do not have a job lined up. I am going on vacation and then I have Girl's Camp, so after those 2 weeks I plan to go back full time to Red Robin and see what's available. I know there are openings, but it is pretty competitive. I plan to apply for whatever in K-8 though, and for now just turn in my Substitute application so that I can try to get my foot in the door. I need to find the happy-medium because if I'm too good a sub, they'll want to keep me as a sub; which is fine but there just aren't any benefits. Now I just need to practice my interviewing skills. ~eeek!~

Student Teaching Came to a Close

I have had the best student teach experience. I was blessed to be with an amazing mentor teacher, Sandi Schmidt, and a near-perfect class. Each of those little kids has such a special place in my heart and always will. I have learned so much from this experience and I can't believe it has ended already! I was able to participate in Field Day, watching the kids get soaked even though it was so cold outside and even started raining! The kids loved it though and it was funny to watch them!

Sandi put together a cute bag with our "goofy" class picture and my name on it, as well as a book of thank you letters the kids wrote, a book of advice for being a good teacher that the kids wrote, and a Lincoln Elementary t-shirt that all the kids signed. I seriously couldn't have asked for a better teacher and a better class!

Here are some of the words of advice from my some of my 2nd graders:

• "Dear Mrs Larson dont forget about second graders and all the things we did. -from Jairo"
• "Dear Mrs Larsonyou need to Let the students cerrect their own papers. -Frum:Shoshana"
• "Don't forget us at the end of school please don't forget us because we love you. -Adriana"
• "Mrs. Larson be a nice to your new class evan when they are not lisining to you. I know you will be a nice teacher. -Madylin"
• "...Love your class like you love us...-Aurora"
• "...Dont forget to give them extra reces because sometimes, they won't listen. -By Elizabeth"
• "If you want to Be a good teacher you have to have Fun like haveing parties Every 2 years and Be Nice to the kids uspeculy if you teach Kinder. - Mia"
• Dear Mrs. Larson Don't Forget to Let the kiDs Have Fun, Have Math games, Let the kiDs Have 3 test a week. Let the kiDs read to a partner and read to selF 3 minutes every Day. -From Ayden"

They're all just so cute! "Uspeculy" when you read this with their writing.

Two of my favorite thank you letters:

1. "Dear Mrs. Larson, You are a graet techer. And I bet when you are a real techer youl be a super techer!! I wish I could be a good techer like you. -Sincerely Trent"
2. Dear Mrs. Larson, You are a an awesome teacher. Mrs. Larson you are a an awesome mom too. I love you as a teacher. Love Brianna and I love you Mrs. Larson. from Brianna for Mrs. Larson"