Hello one and all! I can't believe it's already June! That means we've been in Vegas exactly 6 months. It hasn't felt like that long at all though, time really has flown. Todd and I are still loving it here... except maybe the heat. It's already way too hot for me at times, and I know this isn't even close to the worst of it. I still prefer this to the bitter cold of Idaho, so I just have to remind myself of that any time I'm sweating bullets in this heat.
So last post I mentioned that I might take over for a math teacher who quit. Well, all went according to plan, and I was able to start teaching my own class. It was SUCH a challenge because the kids that I had, had not had any discipline or structure all semester. Since it was a Blended Learning class, they all learned on the computers, and there weren't any formal lessons by me. I found this picture to describe my experience.
Notice how the teacher is attempting to help one student, and the rest of the class gets off task. That was basically my struggle. I tried to help as many students as I could, but it was impossible to keep them focused and working if I was doing that. Though, it really felt more like this:
Anyway, I really can't complain too much. Not only did I get paid, but I got to finish my student teaching early to get paid. The extra income was SUCH a blessing. And while so many of those kids made me want to rip my hair out, they really were sweet kids. They just needed structure, and someone who showed them that they cared. My patience was undoubtedly tested, but it was definitely a learning experience for me. Not only for teaching, but also parenting.
So now that school is out, I'm just working at a little tutoring company a few miles away. It's only part time, but at least it's something for the summer. I've been looking for something else, but I can't find much that I could do for just a few months. Starting next school year, I will be working at this tutoring company, and tutoring for the high school I was working at. They started hiring "certified tutors" to be there during school hours, and paying them $22/hr. That's like almost equivalent to what I could be making as a teacher, and much more enjoyable. I could have taken a teaching position there, I declined the offer for a few reasons. The biggest reason is that Todd and I may not be in Vegas for a whole school-year. I also just don't feel like it's worth all of the work and the stress if I'm only going to do it for one year, and then potentially have to start all over again once we move. Besides, I have a great alternative of tutoring both at the high school, and with that other company. We feel pretty good about it.
So that's all that's new for me. Todd is still working at the Plasma center. He doesn't enjoy it all that much, but is happy that it's giving him the experience he needs for grad school. Speaking of grad school, he is hopefully going to apply to five schools this week! We probably won't start hearing from them until the Fall, but it's exciting that our end will be done! Then we just have to keep our fingers crossed that he'll get interviews, and get in somewhere!
So back when we live in rexburg, Todd and I used to go on little Sunday drives. We realized that we hadn't done it in a super long time, so last Sunday, we went on a little drive to see the Hoover Dam. It was cool to see and think about the history behind it.
Thursday was my last day at the school, and I got home a little early. To celebrate, and to get out a bit, we decided to check out Mount Charleston. We went on a little (tiny) hike, climbed around in some caves, and enjoyed the scenery. It was nice to finally see some forested areas after so long of being in the desert.
So those are the most recent updates. On top of that, and in no particular order, here are some other things we've been up to since our last post :).
One of my students won free motocross tickets, but couldn't go because of prom. She gave them to me, so Todd and I got to watch this awesome event for FREE. It was awesome, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.
Todd and I got to go camping and go to Utah during Spring Break. It was so nice to camp/fish again (even though it was only one night), and it was so great to see family for a bit. Also while we were there, Summer took some 2-year anniversary pics for us. They turned out so great, and I can't wait to get a bunch of them framed for our house :)
These are the pics Summy took! Aren't they amazing??
We also got to help with the little Easter Egg hunt with the kiddos. So much fun!
On a completely different note...
Do you remember about a year ago, I posted on here about our new chairs for our dining table that we got for $25? I was looking at that post just now, and I saw that I wrote this: "One of them is a little rickety... It feels like it might snap in half, but as long as you don't lean back it that one, it's good."
Well, as luck would have it, it turns out I wasn't exaggerating all that much. The other night, I was sitting in one of those chairs, leaned back just a little (putting the weight on the back legs... doing exactly what I said we shouldn't do) and SNAP! One of the legs literally snapped in half! So now I guess we're in the market for a new chair or set of chairs. :(
So that's about everything! We miss and love you all, and can't wait till we're all near each other again.
