2009 In Review: August

August was mainly spent getting used to the fact that, for the first time in about 4 years, I didn't have a job to go to everyday. That was one crazy and unpleasant transition, but as I've already said a couple of times in my year review, I lived! Daniel and I took a friend to LA to sign some papers for school and while we were at it, we explored some of the Hollywood staples just a bit. It was a welcome diversion from the usual "what do I do today?" predicament. Also, our family got to go to the circus! It was amazing! I have wanted to go to the circus since I was a little girl and my grandma used to watch Dumbo's Circus on the Disney Channel with me. Dream come true!

Here's Grauman's Chinese Theatre where lots of movie premieres take place. Also, right in front of it is where you will find the handprints and footprints of the celebrities.

This was taken inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, right next to the Blossom Room, where the very first Academy Awards took place. We also snuck upstairs to see if we could get to the floor that Montgomery Clift is supposed to haunt. We also looked for the mirror that is supposed to be haunted by Marilyn Monroe, but we couldn't find it.

Daniel in Sean Connery's handprints

Me in Marilyn Monroe's handprints

Nancy and Daniel at the circus

David, Melissa, Joey, Aaron, and a very sleepy Baby Cy! The boys loved it and it was fun to watch them!



Check THAT out!!! The animals were truly amazing!!!

Jacob with Josh and Dylan

Here I am...in love with the circus!

Yes. That is a man riding a unicycle on the tightrope. Spectacular in every way!

My parents thought it was pretty cool too! That makes it unanimous: Circus=Magic!

2009 In Review: July

I spent July on the road with part of my family. My parents, Daniel, and I were pretty much together the whole time and Diane joined us for part of the trip. We were on this vacation for 18 days! It was awesome and we got to see so much cool stuff, but by the end of the trip we were completely ready to go home.

On the way out we stopped at Stateline to see the Bonnie and Clyde car

Pretty scenery in Utah

More pretty scenery

And more

We stopped at Arches National Park on a whim. We happened to be going by it, so we stopped and it was pretty cool!

Daniel and me at the Arches Visitor Center

Colorado at Buffalo Bill's Gravesite, which overlooks Denver

The Eisenhower Presidential Museum was amazing! Out of the four that I've been to (Nixon, Reagan, Eisenhowe, and Truman), this one is the coolest (Reagan runs a close 2nd because you get to tour Air Force One)! If you're ever in Kansas, you should see it

Parents and Daniel in front of an Eisenhower statue

After Eisenhower's museum, we went to Truman's Presidential Museum in Independence, Missouri. Apparently, Truman had something against my brother...

...but he liked me! High Five!

This is Liberty Jail in Liberty, Missouri where Joseph Smith was held for a very long time, under particularly bad conditions, on bogus charges. I had heard the stories about this all of my life and it was awesome to see it in person and feel the unique feeling that is there.

My parents, Diane, Daniel, and I are standing in front of the cut-away wall of the jail.

This is the Valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. We got SO lost trying to find it, but once we did, it was really awesome!

Daniel and Dad together at Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Carthage Jail. Wow. This was probably the most amazing place we visited. The Spirit there was SO strong. It was here that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred and sealed their testimonies with their blood. Inside, and even outside, you can still feel the gravity of what happened there.

The beautiful Nauvoo, Illinois Temple! It looks exactly like the original and we were told by some missionaries there that even the rugs inside are exactly the same as the originals. The company where the original ones were ordered (back in the 1800s) is still in business and still had record of the original order. So, they just reordered the same stuff! I thought that was super cool!

This is the mouth of the Mississippi River at the end of Parley Street, where the pioneers crossed it on their way out of Nauvoo. It's amazing to me that such a huge river froze over, all the way across, so that everyone could cross it safely. Definitely a miracle! Just as we got to the river, a huge storm kicked up and soon waves were splashing up like at the beach. Here, you can see a little bit of the action.

Awwww! My daddy! He often refuses to be in pictures, so I put this one up so that he is represented on my blog.

This is the Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It's a replica of the building in which Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd President of the Church. The replica is built on an underground spring, as was the original, and so the whole building is moist. There were even mushrooms growing out of the wood in the rafters and high up on the walls. That was crazy! In Iowa, we also visited Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah where some family members were long ago. It was cool to see their names on monuments.

Ummmmm...can I just say that the people of the midwest LOVE Buffalo Bill! Here I am, at yet another Buffalo Bill site (this time in Nebraska).

The Winter Quarters, Nebraska Temple. I took this shot as the sun was going down and the whole sky was amazingly beautiful!

My dad made us pose for a bunch of pictures in the Winter Quarters visitor center. lol

This was the motive for the whole vacation. On the 4th of July, we were able to participate in the dedication of a monument for some of our Campbell ancestors who died along the Oxbow Trail. The monument is in Ashland, Nebraska and, though it was weird to have a family "reunion" with a bunch of people, from all over the country, that we had never before met, it really was a great experience to honor some relatives who sacrificed so much in trying to be obedient. That is a great legacy and I'm grateful for it.

In Wyoming, we visited Martin's Cove where the Martin Handcart Company huddled together and waited for horrific snowstorms to subside. This passageway is called Devil's Gate and they came right through there. This is a really rugged place and Daniel and I actually ran into a huge snake just slithering around.

Just a marker at Martin's Cove

Fort Bridger, Wyoming was pretty cool! Brigham Young actually met with Bridger, himself, to find out about some of the terrain in the area.

Lastly, but not least, we visited Utah, where we spent some time with Diane and Dad did some Geneology. Daniel and I pretty much just hung around and saw the sites. We got to meet two of his mission friends for lunch and that was awesome too! Here's the amazing Salt Lake Temple, which is, of course, as beautiful as ever.

That sums up July! 18 days on the road! Whew! Exhausting, but well worth it!

2009 In Review: June

So...June! I got super sick while on my Euro trip and I actually had to have emergency surgery. My parents picked me up from the airport and took me straight to the ER where I was immediately admitted and rushed into surgery just an hour or so later. It was a rough recovery time. Fortunately I only spent 4 days in the hospital. They were going to have me stay a full 7, but gave me the option after 4 days. The second they said that I could go home if I wanted to, I got out of that bed as quickly as I could, which, at that point, was not very fast. Then, I was put on home rest for the next 4 weeks and a nurse came to treat me and change my bandages every other day. Basically, I did not leave the house for the month of June, except when I snuck out to go to Sixth Grade Promotion ceremony. BUT I lived! During this time, I experienced many tender mercies in the form of an amazingly kind and understanding nurse, the most supportive family in the world, the most loyal group of friends, and the most loving Heavenly Father. During this time, I know that I was being watched over and protected; the Savior's atonement is real and He did it for me...for us! It was comforting to know that I would not be given anything that I could not handle. I didn't always deal with my pain, frustration, etc. in the best ways, but when I was thinking clearly, I knew the truth and could feel my Savior's influence in my life. At the end of the month, I had miraculously healed enough for my doctor to allow me to go on vacation with my family (the doctor was even shocked that I had healed enough)! There are no pictures of June because, quite frankly, I felt and looked like crap! lol But, again...I lived!

2009 In Review: May

May was a very busy month! I finished my first year of teaching and lived to tell the tale! Haha! I actually LOVED it! I didn't have the terrible experience so many people told me I would have; it was awesome...SO much work, but awesome! The 6th grade classes had had the opportunity to go on some walking fieldtrips to visit the nearest high school and also tour the middle school they would be attending the next year. The day before the last day of school, we actually got to ride a bus somewhere! Halleluia!!! Yes. I've said it. I never thought I would be SO ecstatic about riding in a school bus anywhere, but after marching 80 6th graders down busy streets in the ghetto part of Fontana, a mile or so each way...in the heat TWICE, even the non-air cinditioned Twinkie bus looked great! : ) We went to the Mary Vagle Nature Center where we got to play with reptiles, learn about minerals, hike, test water samples taken from the pond, eat lunch surrounded by dozens of angry geese (this was not my favorite part and I actually lost my apetite thanks to those dirty birds, and just enjoy some tome out of school. I loved that my kids seemed to enjoy it and actually took the water testing activities seriously. I'm so proud of those kids! For the record: only ONE fell in the pond! haha!

These are some of my students gathering samples from the pond. They really did have way more fun than it looks like they had!







Here we are on the hike into the hills. The tour guide guy told me to stay in the back on the way out and then I would take the lead when we turned around to hike back. I was glad there was only one trail to follow because I seriously have no sense of direction! : )

My students and me enjoying the shade

These are some of the kids at our 6th grade Promotion Ceremony. This was actually in June, but since I was blogging about the end of the year, I figured I'd just include it here.

My friend, Melissa, and I at Sixth Grade Promotion. I have always been one to try and keep a very definite line between my personal and professional worlds and never thought I would actually make a real friend at work, but I ended up doing just that! We taught in classrooms next door to each other, were both first year teachers, and actually have a bunch of other stuff in common too. I now consider her one of my very best friends and, fortunately, we still get to hang out alot!

The day after school got out I flew to Salt Lake to meet Diane and then we flew through JFK in New York and then on to Dublin, Ireland. It was amazing! I will be doing a separate post for this when I find a little more time to put into it. It ended up being quite the survival adventure and I'm pleased to say that I won! Here are some pics:

Me in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland

Diane and me in front of Blarney Castle

This is a picture I took of the Blarney Castle ruins! It is beautiful and truly amazing to walk through the ruins and see what used to be the Great Hall, the kitchen, sleeping quarters, etc. It now just looks like a bunch of rugged stones piled into a rough semblance of a room. Also, this is where the Blarney Stone is and I totally got to kiss it! It was among the scariest experiences of my life and, though I'll never do it again (even if given the opportunity), I'm glad that I did it! To kiss the Blarney Stone you have to climb up a million, which actually doesn't seem like too much of an exaggeration, dilapidated castle steps to the very top of the castle, where you then lay flat on your back, scoot to the edge and hang upside down from the top of the castle while a stranger holds onto your legs for dear life. I thought I was going to die and was shaking SO badly, but I did it! YAY!!! lol

This is Diane and me at the Cliffs of Moher (pronounced "More") on the coast of Ireland. They were so incredibly beautiful and really amazing! It was SOOOO windy there!

Here I am, in Scotland, with Loch Ness right behind me. Sorry to say that I did not see Nessie.

This was taken at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is probably my new favorite city in the whole world. He was all dressed in his fancies! lol

Me in a real life Euro telephone booth!

We got to tour the Royal Yacht Brittania, which is docked in Edinburgh. It's not super old or historical, but it was among my favorite things we did and does offer some pretty cool inside scoops!

Aww! Another bus ride. There were many of those.

This was taken at Stirling Castle, which was an amazing place, by the way! It used to be said that "who holds Sterling, holds Scotland" and now I understand why.

Our trip lasted from May 23rd to June 1st and it was simply incredible!