May 2018

Ammon had his last regular-season golf tournament on May 2 in Idaho Falls at Pinecrest. He did really well, and scored a 79, which earned him 2nd place overall. 

The entire boys' golf team this year--Varsity and JV. 

Josh drove the bus for Ammon's golf tournament, and they
made it back to Salmon in time to see the sunset!!
(This photo is at the Salmon Golf Course).

The elementary/junior high students in Terreton participated in a science fair on May 3. Jonah and Micah did a project with Hyrum Spencer, and Kanyon did a project with Seth Brown. The twins weren't sure what to do a project on, so I suggested they do a project I saw Aiden Hobbs do years ago--see which popcorn brand pops the best per dollar. They were hesitant at first, but after discussing it with Hyrum and Mr. Packer (their science teacher), they finally decided on it. Kanyon and Seth put gummy bears in different liquids and measured what the liquids did to the gummy bears (expanded, shrunk, etc.). I took my class through the ALC in the afternoon to view all the projects on display, and got to hear Kanyon and Seth explain their project. There was an open house that night, but Kanyon and I couldn't go because he had a soccer game in Idaho Falls. The twins and Hyrum went, though, and they received first place in the 8th grade for their project! That was super exciting! They won a gift card to Fat Cat's in Rexburg that we used a few weeks later. Kanyon and Seth got 3rd place in their grade, which was awesome as well!

My class read "The Twits" by Roald Dahl in May. We had several cross-curricular
projects we did that correlated with the book. For this art piece, the students made portraits
of Mr. and Mrs. Twit--first they drew the face, then they chose paint and blew through
straws to finish the look. We had so much fun reading this book together! I <3 dahl="" roald="" td="">

The other team had a kid that was nearly twice as tall as Kanyon!
But he didn't let size intimidate him!

Junior High Track had their District meet on Friday, May 4 in Ririe. Josh came with his dad to watch the meet, and then he stayed overnight with us in Mud Lake. Jonah and Micah ran really great races! In the 800, Micah got 2nd place with a time of 2:28, and Jonah got 7th place just 8 tenths of a second behind Keller Brothers with a time of 2:37. In the mile, both Jonah and Micah PR'd. Micah ran it in 5:17 (4th place) and Jonah ran it in 5:45 (9th place) and they both got in the Top 10!! After the races, we went out to eat at Arctic Circle, and the Salmon bus stopped there as well so the boys got to eat and hang out with their friends before we headed back to Mud Lake for the night. Edward had gone on to Pocatello after the races to watch cousins Isaac and Joel in a play, and then he drove back to Salmon that night, stopping by Mud Lake around midnight to pick up the twins and take them back to Salmon, too. Kanyon had a soccer game the next day in Idaho Falls, and they didn't want to wait around until late afternoon before going home for the weekend. 

There was a beautiful double rainbow when
we arrived at the apartment in Mud Lake!

My group of lady friends and I painted ceramics at the end of April, and I
picked them up on Saturday in Idaho Falls. I picked Salt/Pepper shakers to paint.
Angie painted the blue-topped one, and I did the yellow-topped one. 

They turned out so cute!!

On Saturday May 5, Kanyon had a soccer game in Idaho Falls early in the afternoon. Josh went with Kanyon and I to the game. He played goalie the first half of the game, and a defender the second half. We drove to Salmon after the game ended, and got ready to watch Ammon in the 2nd night of the Dance Recital. He got asked to be a part of the high school's couple's dance. They danced to the song "Havana". He looked so handsome, and did a great job! It was fun seeing him perform!

When I'm focused on doing an action, I purse my lips. I didn't realize until I
looked at these pictures that Kanyon does it too!!

Post-game pic--Kanyon and his WJ best friend, Jackson

Ammon's partner was Sage--in the center of the stage

The blossoms on the cherry tree were so pretty this year!

Ammon had a practice round for District Golf on Monday, May 7. That night, the team spent the night at a hotel in Idaho Falls so they could play at Pinecrest the next morning. I decided to spend the night too, since Josh got a free room for driving the bus. However, Jonah and Micah had their last segment of driving for Driver's Ed, so I drove down to drop them off, got work done in my classroom to prep for my substitute the next day, and drove back to pick them up. When I went back, I picked up Josh and he drove us back to Mud Lake to drop them off. I'd had a long day, and was so tired! During recess that morning, I'd been on duty, and a student drop-kicked a ball just a few feet from me, and it hit my head so hard that my earring broke and my glasses went flying off and I'd had a massive headache! After we dropped off the twins, Josh and I drove back to Idaho Falls for the night. The next morning, I met the team at the golf course after doing a bit of shopping, and watched Ammon golf 18 holes. It was the first golf tournament I'd been to all year. It was beautiful weather, and Josh and I walked and followed him the whole time. It was wonderful! He scored a 73 and got FIRST PLACE! He was district champion by just one point--Creed and Uriah each got 74. We were all ecstatic! He was on cloud 9, Josh even teared up a bit, and I was beaming. It was an incredible day, and I'm so glad I was there for it! Both the Salmon boys and girls teams won first as well, and qualified for the state tournament. 

The seniors before districts: Ammon, Ava, & Creed

Teeing off on the first hole

We sat in the shade as much as possible!

He's holding the team trophy, a team medal,
the individual champion medal, and state qualifier medal

I got SOOOO sunburnt from being in the sun all day!

The PTO spoiled the teachers at Terreton Elementary for Teacher Appreciation Week!
We got these cute gifts of homemade bread and jam, and then they fed us the
most amazing lunch one day, beautifully decorated with bee decorations too. 

State Golf Competition for the 1A and 2A division was at the Circling Raven Golf Course near Worley, Idaho (close to Ceour d'Alene). The team went up on Saturday late morning (due to the long bus ride) in order to be there for the practice round on Sunday, and the two days of competition on Monday the 14th and Tuesday the 15th. Originally I was going to drive up myself, but I was so nervous about driving all the way alone back to Mud Lake on Tuesday night, so I ended up riding the bus with the team and Josh (the driver) for the duration of the trip Saturday-Tuesday. We stayed onsight at the Resort Casino at the golf course. It was a fun little getaway for Mother's Day weekend! When they played the practice round on Sunday, I stayed at the hotel and uploaded photos and blogged in the entrance area. It was very relaxing for me. We took the team into Ceour d'Alene to shop on Sunday evening to get out for a bit. On Monday and Tuesday, Josh and I followed Ammon all day. It was a long course, and several of the holes were very difficult, but it was also the most beautiful, relaxing, peaceful golf course I've ever been on! On Monday, Josh and I walked all 18 holes (they had limited carts, and most were reserved for coaches and scorekeepers). On Tuesday, Josh was a scorekeeper for Ammon's group, so we were able to ride (and thankfully so, because it was about 8 miles of walking, and my feet were sore!).  On Monday, he had an earlier teetime, because of his ranking at District. He did so well the first day, and scored a 78--putting him in the top 10. He only had one bad hole, which was a result of the golf course having a greens bunker under construction and the ball bounced out and he had to take an extra stroke. On Tuesday, he started later in the afternoon because of his score the first day of play (they try to make it equal for everyone, so no one has the same advantage repeatedly). It was super hot the second day, and the course doesn't have a lot of shade, and the players are required to walk, so it was already more stressful circumstances than the first day because they were tired and the afternoon sun was worse. He did fairly good on the back 9 (they alternate starting points with the girls between the 2 days), but when he started the front 9, things started slowly falling apart. He had several putts that should've made it, but unfortunately didn't--they skirted the edge, or stopped within centimeters, or bounced out. It was so sad to see. He was getting frustrated, and was tired, and hot, and the day didn't end how he so badly wanted it to--his score was 85, out of medal contention which he wanted so much. I couldn't stop the tears from falling on his final hole; I knew it wasn't the way he wanted to end his last high school golf tournament. I wrote on facebook: Day 2 at State Competition is a wrap! I'm really proud of all these kids. The course was very long--more than the average course--and they had to walk it, carrying/pulling their own equipment. It was approximately 8 miles long, 16 miles total between the 2 days, in 80 degree plus heat, with not a lot of shade, for about 6 hours each day. It is grueling mentally, emotionally, and physically. The kids played hard, and it was emotional for me to watch them all play. It was not an easy day for Ammon: teeing off later, spending a lot of time waiting, having multiple balls that literally skirted the hole. It was frustrating, and yet he played on. He didn't have the results he wanted, but I'm so proud of him for giving it his all and never quitting. It was emotional to see him in his final high school golf competition, final high school athletic event period. I couldn't be any prouder of this amazing boy of mine. The other boys on the team did fairly well, improving their score from the first day (Ammon was the leading scorer the first day) and the Salmon boys' team ended up 4th overall, and earned a trophy as a result. They were glad to not come away empty-handed. We drove home to Salmon that night, and got in after 2am (I thought I would be able to sleep much on the drive, but I only got about a half hour! Busses are uncomfortable!!). I slept for 3 hours, got up at 5am, and drove to Mud Lake to work on Wednesday! It was crazy, but I wouldn't have traded going for anything!

After dinner on Saturday, Josh and I were soaking in the hot tub
near some girls from another high school. They sat staring at
their phones the whole time, never conversing with each other.
In contrast, when we walked back up the stairs to our room,
the boys and girls from our golf team were playing a putting game
in the hall with each other. It was a proud mama moment for me!
I'm glad they can still use their imaginations and discover ways
to have a good time with each other, even when at a remote hotel! 

Ready to tee off on the first day

Hole #1!

This was the hole that had the bunker under construction

This hole was unique with a split fairway!

A picturesque Par 3 hole!

See the train in the background?

Josh and Coach Charlotte watching him finish Hole #18

Ending Hole #18 on Day One

Josh captured this gorgeous sunset

Images captured at the Circling Raven during the 2 days of golf

Ready to Tee off #10 on Day 2

In the first 9, a bridge crosses over the train tracks.
In the second 9, a tunnel access goes under the tracks.

The following are 

9 SHOTS OF THE GOLF BALL IN ACTION ON THE 2nd DAY OF PLAY!!! 

Can you find the golf ball in each of the next 9 photos?!!

Hitting the ball on the last green of his last high school golf tournament. 

Katherine and Ammon bought matching visors!

Waiting for the results as the last golfers finish

Our boys team got 4th place!

The State Girls and Boys Teams. Back: Will, Ammon, Creed, and Conrad.
Front: Kelsey, Karissa, Ava, Katherine, Hailey, and Preston.

Seniors Ammon, Ava, and Creed

The day I got back to Mud Lake was the school's spring concert. Every grade did a song with instruments. My class used Boomwhackers; Kanyon's class played "Hakuna Matata" using ukeleles. The older grades also danced to songs, and there were group numbers opening and closing the concert. It was awesome! I loved it all! After school that evening, Kanyon had his first and only home soccer game. It was on the football turf field. The weather was cold, and I was wiped out after driving early that morning, getting hardly any sleep the night before, and the change in our school schedule, so I went to the car the 2nd half and fell asleep for a bit where it was a little warmer. 

My class waiting for the concert to begin

Kanyon's class sang as they played "Hakuna Matata". He did fantastic!

My class did so good! Their song was cute!

One of Kanyon's dance numbers (he had 2)

The finale!

I took his team team's photo. I had to photoshop in 3 boys who missed the home game.

On Thursday night the 17th, Kanyon had a soccer game in Rexburg. Eve came over from BYU-I and watched part of the game. Kanyon was so surprised to see her! When he got subbed out, he walked by her, just staring but not saying a word. It was so funny! We both giggled at his reaction! His team lost, but they did score one point! His socks were so long, that at first I thought he was wearing tights! I had to look twice when we first got there!! Funny boy!

Long socks!

The 8th grade prom in Salmon was on Friday the 18th. I made sure to leave Mud Lake in time to go home, have the boys get ready, and head back to town to take group photos at the Nelson's house before the dinner and dance started (btw, the photo is NOT of their entire class, only about a third of it). The dinner was at the Grange, and the dance was at the McPherson building--which was a fun venue (and the same place that Ammon's prom was at this year). There's a large group of great kids, and it was fun to see them all dressed up! The twins had a great time! Josh and I went to the Jackson's house to play games and talk while the kids were busy, and stayed until they were ready to be picked up.

I think it's so funny they were helping each other out
with their dress clothes!

Josh gifted me this set of auto stickers for Mother's Day. I like how it
makes my car stand out from all the other normal-looking silver Equinoxes!

He also got me this sticker for my rear window.
Hot air balloons are my classroom theme!

We went out to eat with Amanda and Ryan, and John for his birthday at the
Broken Arrow in Gibbonsville. It was a fun night! 

May 22 was a busy day for me, and a rather upsetting one, too. It was my first field trip as a teacher. We went to the Aquarium, park for lunch, and a Fire Station in Idaho Falls. I was in charge of the Aquarium, and I called about a dozen times, emailed the director, and stopped by the Aquarium twice before the visit just to make sure we had everything all set up. And YET, when we arrived, they were overbooked and didn't have any tour guides for us, even though we'd paid for full tour with TWO guides! We waited for a half hour for the director to come and give us a tour. The building is small, and wasn't built for group tours of 40 people! I was so frustrated. On top of that, I was in charge of contacting the bus department to set up the plans for the day. I'd emailed the bus supervisor multiple times, and yet somehow, the driver began taking us to the wrong park and had to be redirected. Overall, other than that, it went pretty smoothly!! We got back to school just as it was ending, and I took the 3 boys and the twins' friend Hyrum to Rexburg to see the movie Avengers at Fat Cats to use the free pass the boys had received from winning the science fair. The ending was shocking, and I did NOT like it at all!!  As soon as the movie got out, I found out that Ammon didn't receive a single local scholarship at the awards ceremony that night from the literally DOZENS that he'd applied for, even though he's one of the graduating valedictorians and had the highest ACT score in his class. It was hard to be so far away, knowing how upset he must feel and not being able to do anything about it. I struggled all night, thinking about the whole situation: it was difficult to realize that even though we tell our kids to work hard, study hard, get good grades and they'll be rewarded, that it's not always true and sometimes they get nothing--and yet, still trying to instill in them that they're something special and incredible and awesome, even if others don't recognize it in them. I had a rough day and night with all that was on my mind!

My first field trip as a teacher!

The 2nd grade had a Talent Show on the 24th at school. Every student in the 2nd grade picked their own talent and performed. I didn't take a single picture, because I was helping backstage the whole time, but I loved it so, SO much! The students had a huge variety of talents: sports, art, music, demonstrations, and comedy. They also performed a group number of dancing the Virginia Reel, that we practiced several times (and I did capture these images of them during practice the day before the show!). Kanyon's field trip was the same day. They hiked the Menan Butte, went bowling at Fat Cat's, and played miniature golf. He had a great time! That evening, Jonah and Micah had the Junior High Awards Ceremony. They both received high honors for their GPA, and got certificates and medals as their reward. 

Over Memorial Day weekend, we got the house and yard ready for Ammon's upcoming graduation and party. We planted the garden, weed-eated the yard, and trimmed trees in the yard. Josh brought home the long-arm chainsaw and worked on the tree that's just north of the house that has been overloaded the past few years with dead branches. Josh even climbed the tree and used the long chainsaw to reach the higher branches--it was an incredible sight, but he did a great job!

The day after Memorial Day, Ammon went to Senior Sneak to Silverwood in Northern Idaho with his graduating class. It was a super long day, but he had a fun time with his friends. Josh went also, donating his time as the bus driver. 

We had "School Store" the last week of school. The students had been earning
artificial money all month for good behavior and good grades, and this was their
 reward. I asked the parents to help out with the prizes, and I was astonished at all we had!

May 31 was a busy day. In Salmon, it was the last day of school, but in Mud Lake, we still had one more day to go (since we're on a 5-day week). I had a special guest, Eve, come talk to my class as a wrap-up on our Roald Dahl chapter book unit since she's from England. The 2nd grade got to go on the waterslide that was set up on the hill by the football field using hay tarps that afternoon. It was the final activity by the PBIS committee, and a super fun one! I even went on it several times! That evening, Kanyon had his last soccer game in Idaho Falls. As I was driving Kanyon there, we drove through a horrific storm, and I got a notification on my phone that said "Emergency Alert--Tornado warning in the area. Take shelter now". I'd never gotten that kind of message while living in Salmon!! The lightning was nothing short of amazing, and would light up the sky multiple times in the same place before fading out. I've never seen anything like it! By the time we got to Roberts, the worst of the storm was behind us, and by the time we reached Idaho Falls, it was a nice evening. Kanyon played goalie all night, and blocked EVERY single shot! We ended up tying 1-1, because on one shot, it bounced up when it hit his hands, and he took one step back and caught it again, but unfortunately he was behind the line, and they still scored. But we counted it as a win, THE ONLY WIN we'd gotten all season! The team was heralding Kanyon and it was so fulfilling to see him genuinely happy and proud of himself for the job that he'd done! He'd improved on his goalie skills all season long, and to end the season the way he did was remarkable. I was super proud of him!! I took him to eat at Freddy's to celebrate.

The sunrise at the golf course

June 1 was our last day of school. My class earned a balloon-block behavior party, and decided to build forts on the last day. I had to move everything to one side of the room and take everything down in order for the summer maintenance cleaning, and to accommodate the classroom items from the room across the hall that is being remodeled over the summer. We had an early-out day, and the whole day was so fun, with rewards, parties, and good-byes. I will dearly miss this class. I loved them so much! 

Kanyon with his 5th grade teacher Mrs. Tuckett

Our class fort party!

I measured the students on the first day
of school and the last day of school to
show how much growth they'd had this year.
It went along great with my classroom theme!