Cancun Trip!

I will cover the virus in a later post, but this trip had been planned in January.  Chad, my friend Angela's husband, called me and said he wanted to do something special for her birthday.  He wanted to know if I would go on a girls trip with her. OF COURSE I would!  SO he booked us an incredible trip to Cancun during Spring Break.  He taped her opening the tickets on her birthday and I loved seeing her reaction!  This trip was the only thing keeping me going.

Right before we were to leave, this virus had started spreading across the world.  The week before we left, Church across the globe was cancelled.  And craziness ensued.  Most teachers I work with cancelled their plans.  I I prayed about it- I KNEW I needed this trip!  Bob had left that Thursday to drive Alayna out to live with Kayla for a few months.  I would be home, alone, in the snow, overwhelmed by doing 2 jobs.  I HAD To go!  I skyped with the girls and Bob and they all said to go! Agelas family said to go! I woke up Saturday and got my checkin information and decided that I absolutely should go.

The travel days were long.  I wore a mask (and so did most people) My 1st flight only had 9 people on board.  The airports were empty, flights were empty and the beaches of Cancun were like a ghost town.  It was the PERFECT time to be there!

It is definitely paradise there!  We had an incredible trip!  We felt strongly to change our flight back to 1 day earlier.  I am really glad we did as the world got more and more crazy by the day.  While I was in the Cancun airport waiting to fly back, President Trump called a level 4 travel and literally said if you are a US citizen and you are out of the country, you better get back now any way you can otherwise you will be stuck out of the country indefinitely!  Talk about having guardian angels!

Life keeps flying by...

We had a wonderful Valentines Day- Bob got us an amazing ice cream cake!

Anthony and Marisa came for a wonderful visit! It was so great to spend some time with him in person!  They helped me with the book fair. We went out to eat at Mandarin Spice since our traditional place, Osaka, has closed.  Then us girls had a fun shopping and wedding planning day.  It was MUCH needed!

Alayna worked hard painting and decorating the downstairs bathroom after Bob worked hard replacing the drywall mess from a leak.

Guess who got the job?!?!

Alayna loves to do water colors (she really enjoyed her art classes!) She helped me make a book of trip memories for Ellie!

So, I contacted the new principals the exact day they were announced- a year and a half before the library job was posted.  I continued to keep in touch and shared things I was doing. 5th and 6th grade are hands down my favorite grades!  This year has been particularly rough with 7th and 8th graders.  This position is a very highly sought after position!  I wasn't sure I had a shot.  When we got back from the cruise, I had an email inviting me to come interview. I was thrilled!!  And nervous! 

One of our Instructional coaches came in and as I was telling her what I was going to talk aabout in the interview- she said No! Do these instead.  As I went to sleep I was so worried.  I woke up in the middle of the night with tons of questions running through my head.  I gave up trying to sleep and just went through answering them in my head.  The next morning, at the interview, I was asked almost the exact questions that went through my head that night.  I was prepared with great answers.  The interview went great and I was offered the position in less than 24 hours!

I also see Heavenly Fathers hand from many years ago preparing me.  Not many librarians get to start their own library.  I am so excited!  Overwhelmed and excited!

The Proposal!

Anthony texted Bob and I and asked if we could talk. We told him our answer is yes but he still wanted to skype with us!  We have been very impressed with him and after this chat- well, we had no doubt he would be amazing for her and a perfect fit into our family. 

Of course, we gave him our blessing and then we got in on the super secret plan to ask her. Hopefully both Marisa and Anthony wrote about this day too! Special thanks to Kayla, Brandon, and Ellie for giving us the live feed.

Congratulations and welcome, Anthony, to our crazy family!

January

We came back to the cold, dreary world of Iowa. Alayna only had 1 1/2 weeks of school left and I was thrown back into the crazy days of school. 

I know I have said it before, but yoga has changed my life.  The pain relief is incredible and my body craves the stretching every day.  Bob's back is doing better too.

Alayna somehow always ended up in this pose...

 Alayna had her last day of school and we went to OG to celebrate!  We are so proud of her not only for graduating early, but for being accepted into both BYU and BYUI.  She has decided on BYUI on got her apartment all ready to go in the fall.  Right now, she is staying with Brandon and Kayla to help with Ellie and until the new baby comes.

Congratulations, Alayna!!!!

Grand Turk- Day 5

Grand Turk is one of my very favorite places in the world due to the color and clearness of the water as well as the super soft white sand.  The beach starts right at the dock so we spent the day down by the beach!