we are going big...

...well at least i am. we are making our way back out to cali for the weekend. we have a tattoo appointment set up for saturday afternoon. and its literally ALL afternoon. we will be at the red door tattoo from noon to six! yes six hours!!! but two of those belong to sister. anyway...why i am going big is because im taking my tattoos below the elbow. steven had gotten this tattoo done last time we were in cali. and im getting the same thing but my banner will say: and my beloved is mine. sweet i know! :] so stevens will get colored and ill get my outline done ready to be finished around Christmas time.

this has been on my mind for a while just cause it means a lot with work. ill have to wear long sleeves every day. which if you really think about it, doesnt matter cause i have air conditioning! and we, unlike so cal, have winters where its FREEZING! so all in all i dont think its all that big a deal. itll be funny once i get it done and im at the store and happen to run into a parent (which hasnt happened yet) and they see my wonderful arms! ha... oh i cant wait to see the faces!!! :] so there it is. another post sooooo soon! i know. im getting better. just thought id throw this random thought into oblivion know as "cyber space"!
<3

now for part 2...

well here i am getting ready to begin update part two. not sure how excited i am about this one though. things after camp were a little sad and happy at the same time...and crazy with school. so my last post ended with us at (church family) camp. at this point we knew grandpa was sick and none of the family were really too sure how much longer we had with him. so when we got back into civilization from camp, i had a message from my sister to call her back. the news wasnt what i wanted to hear. she had told me that grandpa had passed away that saturday that we were at camp. i was super bummed, but in a sense i wasnt because i knew he wasnt miserable and in pain anymore. he was at home with Jesus. that was the comfort in this entire situation. so once we got home i got on the phone and started booking flights and letting my principal know i would be gone. so we made it to riverside for the memorial service and his funeral, which i would not have missed for the world. this weekend was filled with lots of family time. it was nice to see all of us come together and just hang out. after grandpas funeral just the family went over to my ninas house and had some food and just hung out. my grandma was in good spirits with all of us around.

we even celebrated liz's birthday.on saturday ruben and mikey had a football game so we all rallied together at the game. its funny to see these little guys running around a high school size football field. all these little pint size specks running around this huge field and they get rap song intros also!! funny stuff...

sister and i shared a sisterhood moment. i realized we had the same drink and the same phone (ill admit...before i get in trouble...that she had the phone first. i guess thats only right: the little sister follows the big sister (only in some things!) :] (LOVE YOU SISTER!!!!!)

i just want to share some of the pictures of my grandpa...he was a funny man and an awesome grandpa!!!! he always knew what to do when i put the camera up for a "myspace" picture! does your grandma know that?!?! :]

if anyone knew my grandpa they knew he had the cane and he wasnt afraid to use it if you needed disciplining...or if you were in the way of his angels game! haha... fear the cane!!!!

i will NEVER get rid of this picture. grandpa was always trying to say he didnt like towbie because he wasnt a smart dog like chula! ha... but i just so happened to catch this picture on my phone...kid you not! he tapped his chair and called towbie to jump up there with him. as God as my witness!!!! and he sat there with him and was petting him. so as much as grandpa tried to say he didnt like towbie...i always had this picture in my mind saying "you love towbie!!!" steven has now started working for a company called mykhon. this company makes the big fancy casino signs. so since steven knew how to paint...they put him in the paint department. its much different than custom homes or del tacos, but he has really got a handle on what he is doing. its laid back and he enjoys his work. we just pray that he may continue to be a light in this dark place. its really nice to have my husband home by six and able to go to wednesday bible study and be there with the youth kids. and hes not so stressed! i love it!

other than that...not much else. my life is consumed with special ed files, paperwork, and school. and on top of that trying to keep this house in order and be a good wife. its rough but God continues to give me the strength and energy to get through the days at work and come home and just do my thing here. so yeah... there you have it. updated to this point in time. hopefully ill be able to keep up regularly and not have to do this for months at a time!

enjoy!

life-part 1...

okay so here is the long-awaited update. i think im going to make it a two parter. for the sake of time and not wanting to sit here foooorever! my last major post was about my trip to mexico, which was in july. that was such a blessing. now we are hoping to be able to go with the youth to thailand in march. lets keep our fingers crossed. itll take a lot of money i think. who knows!

so in august i moved into my new classroom. here are some pictures of it before it was all finished. i realized i didnt have updated pictures but oh well. guess those will be a surprise when they get posted, you may even get a video!

1. This area now has those grey cubicle panels you see put up to make three work cubbies. i guess itll make sense when you see the up-to-date pictures. you can see one of my aides on the left...yes shes on her phone! :]
2. this is the middle of the room. on that counter straight ahead is where my desk is now. i have so many cupboards. and those two big cabinets! i love it. sitting on the floor is my other aide, she's awesome...not on her phone and working hard! :]
3. and there is the glorious storage closet! you see those shelves by the door, but it goes about 4 feet to the left also. its like a small room! ive considered making it my prayer closet but im not sure how that would work out and they would think im totally weird. i guess ill count the cost! and to my right in this picture, which you cant see, is another counter top much like #2 and more cupboards.
So there you have...a small tour of my room. i think a video would be much better. plus i can narrate it! :] so now that we are up and running for the school year things look much nicer and put together. needless to see this is where i spend A LOT of time. ive been sucked in!

once the school year started it was time for church family camp. not (church) family camp...but church family (camp). this was the first year we have been able to go. and since we serve in the youth ministry we have the privilege of camping with the youth kids. we had our own little community. and they werent too crazy that weekend.
1. some sweet time of worship in God's creation. yes the lights are hung up like a pinata!
2. shannon and i before they left to go paintballing. i stayed behind to play bocce ball. yes i have traded in the gun and mask for a game of throwing balls around! funny story though. so i stayed to play in the "bocce ball tournament" i had heard so much about. after waiting for some people to show up it was me, pastor rick, and two other men who go to our church. we started to play and they were surprised that i could actually play the game! ha... :] i told them i perfected my bocce ball skills while volunteering for the special olympics. although my teammate and i lost by a hair, we gave them a run for their money! theyll be ready for next year!
3. so this big area where we had church and worship, which was right in front of the fire pit and where we ate dinner, had a ton of apple trees (the apples were delicious). and since this place is secluded there were free-roaming deer walking around and eating the apples. it was so cool to see them get this close. you could tell they were very cautious cause if they saw one thing move, they were walking back towards the bushes in the back. back as you can see in the 2nd picture, they got pretty close. i had wished my grandma were there cause she LOVES deer.



4. it was super cool to have our sunday service in between all these apple trees. it was pretty cold though cause there was a storm passing through all weekend (which resulted in a broken tent on saturday night). lots of wind and light rain. crazy weather. and the clouds were crazy looking.5. and yes we stayed up til midnight every night playing games with the youth kids. it was funny to watch them play hide and seek in the dark. we started to mainly play games inside since it was getting pretty cold at night with the storm passing through.

6. on sunday we had a time of baptism. these kids sitting with pastor rick were the ones who were getting baptized. he was sitting there with them giving them a biblical view of water baptism and why we do it. and making sure that that was still what they wanted to do. it was a sweet time! and cold for those who had to get in the water!7. after the baptism we made a slip-and-slide. it was hilarious. with water and dish soap you can have a lot of fun! i really wanted to try this but we ended up going to the lehman caves.
8. so like i said before we went to the lehamn caves. we went with bill and marica. it was pretty cool to see some cave formation stuff. our guide was even more interesting. this picture with bill and marica was taken in a pretty dark area of the cave and im pretty sure we blinded a few people behind us! ha...

9. so after the guide told us not to touch any of the cave formations it took all of me not to touch anything. you dont think of things until someone says not to do it! plus they look like they have interesting textures. and i am a big person on feeling different kinds of textures. so marica and i PRETENDED to touch the cave stuff. rest assured that we did not touch anything, and didnt mess up any of the "rocks" that have been forming for "millions of years"!! the picture below us was a cool one to see in person. they had some name for it but then started asking tourists what theyd name it. the guide said that a little boy had said to call it "an elephant stepping in gum", which i thought was adorable. plus thats what it really looks like. funny stuff...

10. so on this ranch where we went camping they have some other livestock in addition to the deer. there were these sheep. they were really loud and annoying. i thought it was funny that there was this one black sheep in the pen with the white ones. i guess this is how i feel in st george, utah! :]

11. fun times with friends. we said this would be our poster picture for the young adults ministry. here we have (LtoR) shannon, me, steven, chris, and cody. not sure what cody is doing though. we are a bit confused!ok well this will conclude part one. i need to get away from this computer! i wish i could just talk to the computer and it would type in what im saying. but i dont have that so i must give my wrists a break before i get carpel-tunnel (or however you spell it!).
until then....

taking a break from life...

ok so i just wanted to let all of you (all three of you) know that we are alive. things have just been busy since my last post. seeing as im (sweetwater) the one who updates this i have to have some free time. in between work, school. and youth ministry, i dont know when to get to this!

i never thought special ed would entail so much paperwork! yikes!!! i was wrong.

i hope to post some pictures of my classroom soon. i wish i could post pictures of my kids. they are all so precious. i love it.

until i get time to do that...hopefully soon...rest in the fact that we are alive and well.