Appreciation.

Last week was our Stake's annual LHS Teacher Appreciation Dinner.

Senior youth (that's an oxymoron, isn't it?) are encouraged to participate by inviting an educator who has made a difference in their lives to a special dinner and tribute ceremony (I was in charge of the dinner for Lex's year - reminder here.)

This is only LHS's third graduating class (Lex was in the first), but our Stake has held this event for years, so Tay and Britt also participated in the past for CHS. (Taylor's guitar teacher, Mr. Moore, couldn't come back in 2007, so we didn't attend the dinner. Now the youth are encouraged to attend even if their teacher is unable to, and they still participate by reading their tribute. BTW, Mr. Moore now teaches at LHS and was in attendance at this dinner, nominated by 2 students. Clearly still a favorite.)

As we discussed over the past school year who Shilo might invite, she would say things like, "I've had some great teachers [in high school], but I don't necessarily feel like I was super connected to any in particular..." She figured she would probably just invite her Assistant Swim Coach, Coach Matherly. 

A month or two ago, we were on the topic of who-to-invite again, and I thought back to my high school days. I could maybe name 2 of my high school teachers without looking them up. I don't necessarily think any of them greatly influenced who I am today. (I most commonly tell my kids about my AP English teacher who suggested I NOT take the AP exam because it would probably be a "waste of time and money" for me to do so. I took the test anyway... and got a 5. I mostly remember her clear lack of confidence in me.)

I do, however, remember my jr. high choir teacher, Mrs. Schmidt (I've mentioned her before), and I can name each and every one of my elementary school teachers, and well remember how each of them made me feel.

Shilo had some really great elementary school teachers, but we both fondly recalled one in particular:
Miss Dodge.
She was Shilo's fresh-out-of-college-young-and-enthusiastic 3rd grade teacher. 

She has since been married (now Mrs. Valasquez), and is still teaching at FVE. We decided to check with the event organizers to make sure it would be okay to invite her, since only high school teachers have been invited in the past. Once the approval was given, Shilo took the invitation over on a Friday after school. Mrs. Valasquez had already left for the day, so she put the invite, along with a note, on her desk and anxiously awaited a response ("Maybe she won't remember me...").

Mrs. Valasquez responded Monday. Of course she remembered Shilo, she was honored to be invited and would definitely attend. YAY!

Shilo's tribute:

"Mrs. Valasquez has had a great impact on my life. Although it has been nine years since I had her as my teacher, her impression on me has been lasting. Even at my young age I could tell that she had a real interest in helping each of her students feel capable and confident in school. Even as a third grader, I knew that she had a personal interest in helping me grow and learn. She was very kind and sweet, and she always looked for praiseworthy things in each student and acknowledged those things. I've had a lot of great teachers through my twelve years in school at Frontier Valley, Cimarron, and Legend High School, but I appreciate the foundation she laid out for my future years in school. She helped me believe that I could accomplish anything if I put my heart into it. She strived to help each of her students see the potential they could achieve. I just want to thank you Mrs. Valasquez, a.k.a. Miss Dodge, for being a blessing in my life."

It was so fun chatting with Mrs. Valasquez and her husband during the dinner. She had been worried that Shilo wouldn't recognize her (of course Shilo recognized her!), but was so happy and honored to be there. I worried that the focus of most of the speakers was on LHS teachers specifically, but Carrie responded with, "I'm so glad to be able to represent elementary school teachers!"

It was an all-around feel-good evening.

Mrs. Valasquez asked Shilo to keep in touch

(we discovered that she lives only a couple streets over from us).

Shilo agreed.

Connected again.

Anniversary Overnighter.

I didn't do so great at keeping things in chronological order after all. I was just so darn excited to post about our Spring Break adventures that I neglected to first post about our anniversary.

Yes, we celebrated, if only briefly.

My initial hopes were to have a good three-day two-night getaway (with a phone ban on Bill), but since Spring Break was the following week, and Bill would already be missing TWO Sundays (oh my), we kept it to a 1.5 day/1 night event. But it was most excellent, and our time together was definitely magnified. Tender mercy.

Bill had given me roses on the 12th, and wrote a romantic Facebook post. It was a full day at the salon for me, so a client actually told me about the post.
Thanks, babe!

The totally AWESOME thing about Bill's roses is that they were a gift to him from an insurance company partner the day before. Boxed up and presented beautifully, he opted to give them to me. 

You may think that takes away from the sentiment and thoughtfulness of his gift.

NOPE.  It made me love them more. I viewed it as a perfectly timed tender mercy.
Beautiful roses for our anniversary... for free.


Friday afternoon we started our overnighter by trying out a new(er) sushi joint right here in town.

Then we took a leisurely drive to Colorado Springs and checked into our hotel in the heart of downtown.

We had gotten a pretty killer deal on it, and we weren't quite sure what we were going to get.
It was awesome.
Kind of makes up for the not-so-lovely place we spent our last anniversary at.

It was a really amazing old hotel that had been freshly renovated, but still had some fun original details - like this old safe (used as the housekeeping closet now). We had a view of the city from our window, and our room had one of the best bathrooms I've experienced in a hotel - they usually gross me out.

Then we checked out an antique mall Bill had run through back in December when we were madly hunting down a typewriter for Mar. I know he loves me... sacrificing our getaway time to peruse antiques (and some not-really-antiques) because he knows I love to do it.

He's definitely my knight in shining armor...

That night we stuffed ourselves with beef and bison here,

using a gift card Bill had received at Christmastime, which we had held in reserve for such a time as this. Perfect.

After catching some March Madness on TV (my tiny time sacrifice for Bill), and sleeping in on Saturday,

we decided to grab lunch at a place just around the block, The Ritz Grill.

 It was on the very street the St. Patrick's Day parade was on, so we passed the heavily green-clad (can't really tell from the pictures, but there was seriously a lot o' green going on) and good humored crowd on our way.

This was also perfectly timed, because Salt Lake City's 1988 St. Patrick's Day parade was held on our wedding day.

(Those brightly colored people behind us? Parade people. Not sure why there's not much green there either.)

From my seat in the restaurant I could see bits and pieces of the parade.

We elected not to stay for the whole parade, but still somehow got stuck in parade traffic by the time we got our car from the valet and headed out. Since we were already stuck (and driving in circles), we decided to stop at another antique store we found in our stuckness.

I found a new old hand-beater (love those).
Bill found some new specs.

Harry Potter-ish, we concurred.

We headed back to our neck of the woods to catch a movie at Southlands (with those new reclining seats). Honestly, I can't remember what we saw, so I will ask Bill and {insert here}. Obviously not the most memorable part of our getaway ;-)

We were home in enough time for Bill to prepare for his Sunday meetings.

A much needed break.
Perfect timing.
Tender mercies.
It couldn't have been better.
I love you, Bill!

Spring Miracles.

The rest of our Spring Break vacation we spent at The Barn.
As we drove, our hopes of snow-covered hills for frolicking and snowmobiling were somewhat dampened as we noticed that Spring had apparently sprung in Star Valley.
There were snow patches here and there, but there was also lots and lots of deep brown earth.
But hey, at least our car was up and running.
And we had the awesome opportunity to spend some great quality time with the family.
(I loved Elder Teh's talk at Conference. Said he - can't you just hear President Monson saying that? -  "...We need to put more quality time and effort into strengthening family relationships. After all, 'the family is ordained of God. It is the most important unit in time and in eternity.'")

We were met at The Barn by those who had arrived earlier that day, and these delicious cinnamon rolls.

Mar and Meres wanted to build a snowman with the wet, slushy snow...

...an itty bitty baby unicorn snowman.

And then a miracle began in the form of snow. Lots and lots of snow.

Let the frolicking begin.

In gratitude of the much desired and much enjoyed snow, we HAD to build a snowman.

We used actual coal from the farmhouse for his eyes, mouth and buttons...

...and we only had an itty bitty baby unicorn carrot for his nose, but topped him off with a real farmer's hat and a scarf of minky - a remnant from one of our projects.

Grandpa added some ears, and he was good to go.

Calle loved to snowmobile, and it was so fun to see her having such a great time.

Britt and Austin took a very cautious "Baby on Board" ride.

We had just enough snow to enjoy. It was seriously perfect.

Lincoln celebrated his 6th Birthday...

...we ate lots and lots of yummy food...

...the boys went shootin'...

(Bill informed me afterwards that Austin and Taylor are great shots; him... not so much.)

...we puzzled and played games (sorry, no Aggro pics for some reason!)...

...we jumped and tether-balled... champions were made and defeated...

...we watched movies every night, no matter how late it was...

...and ate popcorn...

...we tied...

...and sewed...

...cut hair... tried bold new styles...

...we toured the farmhouse museum...

...Bill demonstrated how he caught his arm in his grandma's washer when he was a lad...

...we talked about the good ol' days...

...we toured the town...

...and visited the cemetery...

...we took pictures in front of a church that WASN'T showing the General Women's Meeting broadcast (next to the lot where the temple will be built) before we knew it was the wrong building...

...and quickly drove to the church that was broadcasting it (look familiar?)...

...we completed projects...

(this picture is for Grandma - see Mar's completed project? Cute!!)

...then snapped some parting shots.

I had to snap a quick pic of our beloved snowman on our way out. Eyeless, armless, countless body wounds from firecrackers... goodbye, dear friend, you'll be doing whatever snow does... in summer.

A few of our Spring Break miracles:

Heading out a day early.
A need to be rescued -- a willing and able rescuer.
Elk Mountain, 13 miles down the road.
A broken car -- a new transmission, mostly covered by warrantee.
An overwhelming list of things to accomplish -- completed.
Our family in the temple.
Quality time and shared memories.
Snow.
Safety.