Thurs. 1st--I was called into Ira to sub in 3rd grade the day before because poor Candice got Covid. It was going well, I was just surprised by how behind we got on some tasks. And after having a great discussion in math, with the students walking me through the steps, how most of them insisted they didn't know what to do. You've got to be kidding me. I did a fair share of reteaching. I guess I'm losing my touch.
*We hired someone to split wood for us and to patch up the gate slats that were falling down or missing all together. I thought he'd replace more of them, so that was a little disappointing. And some of the wood pieces were still pretty big. But at least we have more usable wood than we did to use in our insert than we did.
Mon. 5th--Jared worked extra shifts in the urgent care clinic both Saturday and Sunday to cover for Labor Day weekend. But he did have Monday off and was able to go fishing with Kevin that morning. I also taught a water aerobics class bright and early at 7am.
Tues. 6th--I subbed at Ira for Marcy--Jr. High science. It was a good day--those students are well trained.
*Rolo hanging out with me after a long day.
Wed. 7th--I was scheduled to help sub as a floater for the Ira High School teachers, but while I was there, Denise Lewis (6th grade) called down to the office and said she hurt her foot. She needed to go get it x-rayed. Keva sent me to 6th grade instead and I stayed for the day. Turns out she did tear some stuff up in her foot and would need surgery. She actually went to the walk-in clinic and saw Jared who was working his normal Wed. morning shift. I gave him a heads up that she was coming. Poor Denise. What a drag. Teachers need both feet!
Fri. 9th--Calvin was invited to go to Griffin's house after tennis practice with some guys from the team to have pizza, play ping pong, and then go to the HS football game. Yes! This is exactly what we were hoping would happen...that he'd find a good group of kids where he feels he belongs.
Tues. 13th--I finally got the opportunity to volunteer at the food bank on a regular Tuesday. I was asked to sub for Denise again at noon, so the food bank was kind enough to let me bow out at 11:30. I really enjoyed it. How can you not?
*That afternoon, I came home to a very special delivery! I took a doTERRA oils class the middle of August and loved what I learned. I was eager to give these oils a try. I love that they're not just 100% pure, if they pass a rigorous testing process, including a third party for testing and validation, then they can be labeled as CPTG--Certified Pure Tested Grade. The oils are responsibly and sustainably sourced from the expert harvesters and growers who are elevated through fair, healthy, safe, and respectful business practices and training. Not to mention these oils come from the natural gifts God gave us on the earth. Yes, my husband practices western medicine. If an oil can solve your ailments naturally, safely, and inexpensively, why wouldn't you use it? Medical providers are not going to lose their jobs over the growing popularity of essential oils because it's all about balance and I have loved finding all the ways to use these oils successfully. My new phrase for my family, "I have an oil for that!"
Some family members are much more willing to use them than others. But that's okay. We're just beginning our journey and there's so much more to learn...I bet they'll come around in time.
Thurs. 15th--I told Ronda Cowley that I would cover her water aerobics classes again this day. I had a lot to do at home in between classes because my parents were going to be driving in. I was hoping they'd be there by 12pm and they could join my noon class, but it was more like 2:30 and I was still vacuuming. :)
*It was the last day for Jared's student, Luke. We had plans to take him and his wife out to dinner. Kevin and Christina and my parents all joined us. We ate at the Polynesian Garden and had a good time. Kevin related the story of when Jared spent a rotation in Germany with him. One weekend they flew to Barcelona and visited the Sagrada Familia (a large cathedral that they've been building for forever and they're still not done). Kevin and Jared and gone up as far as they could to the top and it opened up to give them a great view. Kevin was leading the way and was in awe and when he turned to see Jared's reaction, Jared was ducking down low, afraid to look over the edge. Kevin demonstrated at the restaurant. We all got a great laugh out of it.
*I love my dog, but all of the Rolo shots are courtesy of Calvin who swipes my phone from me to get the perfect picture of the Pomeranian pooch.
Sat. 17th--It was going to be a busy day! The boys had bowling league at 10am. JJ scored over 100for the second time ever! Yay! He's been working hard towards that goal. And he scored over his 72 average for all three games.
When we were done, we headed over to the temple for our branch youth baptisms. My parents and Karole were there as well. I opted to stay outside with Korbin and JJ since they are still just a few months shy of attending themselves. This was their last trip to the temple where they had to stay OUTSIDE. James and Patricia were there, too, with Amaya. I told Christina I would watch Amaya with the boys. We also found out Patricia was expecting baby #2.
Yay for family temple days! Next time--Korbin and JJ join us!
Mon. 19th--With my parents in town, we set off for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a couple's getaway and to celebrate Jared's birthday. We drove to the Lubbock Airport for the first time and flew to Myrtle Beach from there. We arranged to rent a car through Turo. It took us what felt like FOREVER to actually find the car in the right parking lot, walking around as if on a treasure hunt. And once we did locate the car, the lady wasn't very prompt in responding to our texts. We also thought the car would be a little bit bigger. Oh well. A Mr. Incredible car it is.
*The SeaGlass Tower was only about 10 minutes away. We got checked in no problem and went to our room. Our condo building is tall and narrow. Our room on the 11th floor was narrow too, but comfortable for us and totally worked.
Entry way.
Closet to the left.
Bathroom to the right.
The living room, kitchen, balcony area when you turn left from the front door.
View from the patio door.
Kitchen
View from the living room window.
View from the balcony.
Cute little anniversary token from the vacation club. We came to celebrate 25 years, 19 weeks, and 2 days. :)
*As vacation club owners, we got a discount on this local seafood fare at the Lobster House. It was delicious.
*The view at night from our condo was just as magical and beautiful at night.
Tues. 20th--We drove around the area and did some errands, including driving up to North Myrtle Beach to make parasailing reservations for Thursday morning!
We spent some time on the beach right in the afternoon outside the condo and I went combing for shells.
I almost stepped on this guy. Talk about camouflage.
*After dinner, we walked down the boardwalk and purchased tickets to ride the SkyWheel for a unique view of the oceanfront and promenade at sunset.
Wooo weeee, that's really high! 200 feet, but looks higher!
The climate controlled gondolas gave us a very smooth ride. It was really fun and the perfect time of day to do it.
Jared says, "Peek-a-boo!" :)
Wed. 21st--We slept in and got a late breakfast across the street. When we got back to the condo, we got a call from Aloha water sports. We had made a reservation to parasail on Thursday. However, thanks to Hurricane Fiona, there was a small craft advisory for Thursday beginning at noon and that kind of alert shuts down these businesses all day. Fortunately, they were kind enough to schedule us that afternoon and with the morning discount. We were so happy we could still do it.
Parasailing was an absolute thrill!! We got to ride a banana boat pulled by a jet ski out to the tow boat. They hooked us into the harnesses, which they explained, were "like swings." Don't think we'll be doing a whole lot of swinging up there, guys! We sat on the back of the boat and as the captain put the boat in gear, they released us! It was quite the rush as we pulled away from the boat, rising higher and higher in the air.
And props to Jared! He's not fond of heights. At all. I told him I would do it alone, but he came with me anyway. If that's not love... :)
The captain released 500 feet of rope and we flew about 300 feet above the water--100 feet higher than the SkyWheel.
Aside from having a white-knuckle grip on the harness ropes and the beautiful views, I was startled by how quiet and peaceful it was up there. We couldn't even hear the boat engine. And much to our relief, this experience wasn't anything like Jurassic Park 3. We were up for about 12 minutes before they started bringing us down. We didn't see much in the water, except for a few jellyfish, thankfully. As we got closer to the water, our legs touched down briefly, and then they lifted us back up.
We returned to the water on the boat where we began, standing on our own two feet for a smooth landing. It was such a blast! I'm totally doing it again and highly recommend this experience to anyone. Even Jared said it wasn't too bad. Haha!
Back on the beach, waiting to get our pictures.
We got home from parasailing with just enough time to shower and change for our dinner cruise on the Barefoot Queen--a legendary paddle boat (that runs on diesel--the paddle is for show) as we cruised down a small part of the 3,000 mile Intracoastal Waterway. We had a fabulous entertainer with an exceptional voice who narrated the history of Myrtle Beach and sang classical and pop songs between narrations. We ate and listened and sang along at our tables and then moved to the deck when we finished dessert.
We were the youngest couple on the top deck. :) And Jared got a lot of comments on his shirt. Haha! There was a tour group from east Texas that was on the cruise with us.
The Intracoastal Waterway is quite the engineering marvel.
Look how far back this "house" goes. It's 26,000 square feet--the size of an entire city block.
Jimmy Buffet's house--he also owns the Landshark shop.
This is Vanna White's house behind us! Love me some Wheel of Fortune!
Here it is up close.
I learned a few things about Myrtle Beach on our cruise:
*It was named after the abundant wax myrtle shrubs in the area during a name-your-town contest.
*It has over 115 golf courses and as such is knowns as the golf capital of the world. Putt Putt is big here, too. There's miniature golf on every corner--over 50 in the city.
*One of my all-time favorite movies, "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" was filmed here.
*Vanna White, Jimmy Buffet and the governor have homes on the waterway. Johnny Deb and Oprah Winfrey have homes in Myrtle Beach, also.
*We took an evening stroll on the boardwalk outside our condo.
The sunset view from our living room window.
Thurs. 22nd--Because we didn't have our 9am parasailing reservation anymore, we took advantage and slept in! It was a super chill day with lots of reading, shopping at the outlets, reading some more, napping, and hot tubbing. We also went out on Pier 14 near the condo.
It's an incredible blessing we went parasailing the day before instead. Visibility was low and we were under a high surf advisory and high rip tide current risk. There's no way we could have parasailed in those conditions. The wind was blowing more, there were white caps out in the open water, and the waves were bigger and stronger. We also noticed a lot less people on the beach. Kind of eerie.
This picture was taken at 8:30am.
Rougher surf.
Bigger waves and less people.
Fri. 23rd--Time for another adventure. Ft. Sumter Friday!
This picture was taken at 6:50am. A lot different than the day before.
We left early and drove two hours south down the coastline to Mount Pleasant on the outskirts of Charleston to board the ferry about Patriot's Point. It was a 30 minute boat ride to Ft. Sumter where the Civil War began.
This bridge was a government project and a bit of a marvel in that it was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. :)
In Doctrine and Covenants 87:1, we read: "Verily thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of may souls; and the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place."
The prophet Joseph Smith recorded this revelation from the Lord in December 1832--nearly 30 years before the Civil War began; further proof of Joseph's prophetic calling.
We were given an hour at the fort to wander around and see the many different things at this site. There was a park volunteer who gave a short presentation with important information. It was fascinating and quite the honor to be on historical ground. We learned:
*Ft. Sumter was built on a man made island
*The original cannons could fire cannonballs 4 miles away, and once they began to be rifled during the Civil War, the cannons could shoot the ammo 10-12 miles away!
*The black battery (a group of guns) at the fort was added after the Civil War as gun technology advanced.
*The fort's original walls were 50 feet high (up to the red line on the flagpole).
*There are still a couple of cannonballs lodged in the walls of the fort. We got to touch one!
*Many of the walking paths are covered in crushed oyster shells. Really cool.
*The flag that flies at the fort has 33 stars, the number of states in the country when the Civil War began.
Touching one of the cannonballs lodged in a wall.
Oyster shell paths.
We were really excited to see the naval carrier, the USS Yorktown, in the harbor. My dad's jet, the A-4, was on board. He was stationed on the USS Kitty Hawk. Unfortunately, given the 2-hour drive back to Myrtle Beach, we couldn't tour the Yorktown like we had hoped. But we did get a few pictures.
The A-4 is on the very back of the carrier, by the flag. My dad flew it during the Vietnam War.
Sunday is Jared's birthday, but we celebrated before we left. My friend, Mandy (West) Hanks, recommended Captain George's seafood buffet as their most favorite place of all time. So we had to check it out.
The cute table tops. I'm always a sucker for a lighthouse.
These were two smaller buffet islands at Captain George's.
They had every type of seafood and variation known to man--at least in this country.
A few of our plates.
But this was the REAL treat!! We ate over $100 in crab legs alone. They were delicious and all-you-can-eat.
Happy 49th Birthday, Babe!
Sat. 24th--Our week at Myrtle Beach came to an end before flying back to Lubbock and then driving home to Snyder. After we checked out of the hotel, we still had a few hours before needing to return the car, so we went souvenir shopping. We thought that would take some time, but we found everything at the first store. Gotta love Buy 1, Get 2 FREE sales!!
Ah yes. Hermit crabs. Remember the hermit crabs, Shelly? I do! Haha! My parents went to the Virgin Islands when my sister and I were between the ages of 4 and 8. I don't know how he did it, but my dad smuggled some hermit crabs back to our Bountiful, Utah home. He put them in a square plastic container on top of a heating pad and set them on the back counter in our basement rec room. I remember my sister, Michelle, and I were playing back there with the toys stored in the cabinets under the counter top. The cord to the heating pad dangled down and my little sister did what any kid would...she pulled on it...and down came the plastic container with the two or three hermit crabs inside and they landed right on top of her head and in her lap. My sister is dark skinned, but that day, I still remember that her face turned a shade of green. Haha! I don't remember what happened after that. If I helped her or ran to get my mom, but the look of shock and the shade of green will always be what I think of when I see hermit crabs.
Since Myrtle Beach is the mini golf (putt putt) capital of the world, with a course on every corner, we decided to try Captain Hook's Adventure Golf. It did not disappoint! We had a blast making our way through caves and aboard Hook's pirate ship. Jared was threatened by my mad miniature golf skills, but in the end, he overtook me by two strokes.
Tinker Bell was pleading to us for help in defeating Captain Hook.
So cool.
We are SO MONUMENTALLY grateful to my parents who, yet again, held down our fort back at home at the beginning of a school year so that we could enjoy some much needed time away together.
Sun. 25th--We celebrated Jared's birthday by having the extended family come over for dessert. It was fun because my parents were still in town and it made for a lively group.
Mon. 26th--My parents left to drive back home to St. George. Always a sad thing for us.
Tues. 27th--I needed to vacuum to get ready for an oils class I was hosting. JJ was working on the computer and someone had to hold on to Rolo (because he hates the vacuum and always attacks it). So JJ put him on the counter next to him.
I had a great turn out at my first hosted oil class. I hope my friends see the benefit in essential oils like I do. I took these pictures to remind me.
Wed. 28th--I subbed in Kindergarten again for Emily and this just happened to be the "See You At The Pole" day. I've learned to appreciate the efforts of the whole school to gather together in prayer and praise to the Lord.
Thurs. 29th--I was scheduled to sub again for Emily. She was doing some evaluations and beginning of the year testing of the kids. But she ended up not needing me. So Keva said she'd take the day off, if I was willing to cover the front office. I actually really like the front. I'm not a pro at it by any means, but I love answering the phones and being the face of Ira for a day. Unfortunately, Macy (SpEd assistant) needed a sub last minute, so that's where I went instead.
*Karcyn had been asked a week ago to Homecoming by one of her peers, AJ. She was really excited to go. Apparently, in Snyder, there's no dance, just a football game. So after explaining and reiterating all of our expectations and rules for safety to her, we agreed she could go.
However, before school started, she sent me a text saying AJ just found out that he was going to be in Arlington all day Friday and wouldn't be able to go to Homecoming. She was pretty sad. I told her I was really sorry because I knew how much she wanted to go. She said, AJ was sad, too, and really wanted to go with her.
*There was a Homecoming Parade that night. We found a spot along the path (it wasn't quite the crowd that the 4th of July parade garners) and waited to see the tennis players drive by.
And there's Calvin in the yellow shirt. They threw candy and tennis balls with HOCO 2022 written on them.
Fri. 30th--Homecoming--but no one went, so the kids all hung out at home and watched a movie. Korbin joined us and spent the night.
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