Here We Go Again!

Well, school has started. Which means I finally got my new classroom put together. I am really excited to be at my "new" "old" school. It is fun being on the teacher side of Westmore Elementary. It has a really great home feeling. It should be quite the experience this year. I only have 16 students. I am really excited to have the time to teach them one-on-one and to give each student the attention they need. I hope you enjoy all the pictures of my new classroom. I'm sure with the weeks to come I'll have great "teacher" stories.

Rodeo! YEE HA!

Oh what do you do in the summer time when all the world is green? When the last days of summer are quickly slipping through your fingertips? You go to Logan to a good old-fashion rodeo that's what you do.

I had never been to a rodeo and it was really fun. Devin was not pleased with the lack of "skill" that the riders had. But lets face it, when you compare cowboys with prissy horse riders one is going to look better than the other. But I'd take the cowboys any time!

The evening overall was quite fun. My favorite thing to watch was the barrel races. I think this was only because no one could stay on any of the bulls for more than a few seconds. I was very disappointed!
It was also fun just being around the "fair" atmosphere. I love the fair. Maybe it is because one of my favorite childhood memories is going to the Amador county fair in California with my grandparents and cousins. I had fun looking at the quilts and Devin loved all the big tractors. I was really impressed! There were some really huge tractors there on display. So yeah for the fair! Yeah for cowboys! There is one thing I'll never understand. It is beyond my understanding why any girl would aspire to be a "Rodeo Queen." Apparently there is scholarship money involved. But I'd rather work at Classic all summer than dress up like a feathered-haired, weird- clothes, barbie on a horse.

Tetons + Rain = Quite the Adventure

Some of you might have given up on me updating our Blog. Sorry to say, school is back in session and that means that I don't have all the time in the world to update our Blog all the time. This evening Devin is camping with the scouts so I decided it was time to bring you all up to speed on the Baldwin Family Adventures. We will start with our most recent trip to Idaho.

Missy decided to organize a family hike to Table Rock, which is close to or part of the Tetons (I'm not quite sure). I was thrilled to be hiking in a new area and it was fun to be going with Devin's whole family too. You learn a lot about people when you spend all day hiking with them. I never knew how much my brother-in-law Mahon liked to sing.

We had a great time. We went at good pace. It wasn't too hot. One of my least favorite parts was the HUGE rock fields on the ridge part of the trail. If you think my mom's back yard has a lot of rocks in it, you should see this place! When people talk about a "rocky" road, I am quite sure that this is the exact location that they are talking about.

By the time we got to the top of table rock it was well past noon. It was quite the view. Devin had lots of fun sitting on the edge of the big rock-like-cliff and taking pictures. The only bad part of the view was the nice big black storm clouds that we could see rolling in towards us.

Packing up quickly we started down the mountain. We decided to take the shorter path down the face of the mountain rather than going down the seven mile trail that we went up on. The wind and rain started up before we even got off the ridge. Missy was the only smart one, she had actually brought a poncho. (Who says Boy Scouts are the only ones who are prepared!) I was glad that we had brought our sweat-shirts with us. It really wasn't too bad hiking in the rain. The fun part was the fact that the trail gets pretty steep at the bottom and rain + rocks = slick trails. I think we all bit the dust at least once...or we were really close to falling down. We were very glad to get down off the mountain and that the storm was not too bad. I had to laugh at the sign at the bottom of the trail. It said something like "Very difficulty trail, this trail is not recommended" I believe it!

Overall we had a great time. It made me grateful that I'm not a pioneer, but the I can go out on crazy hikes in the rain for "fun."