Oh give me a home...

where the buffalo roam. And the deer and the antelope play.

Here are some highlights from our Yellowstone trip. I must thank the Bradfields for such an amazing trip. It was truly an awesome experience that I will always remember and treasure.

You know what else rocks???????????? Nature.

Enjoy!!

Amy and I at the canyon

At the campsite

Just chillin'

Pretty cool hot spring at West Thumb. Or should I say pretty hot hot spring?

Look alive. Real danger at the geysers.

Bull Elk

On top of the world. Give it up for nature.

Mammoth Springs
We saw a coyote here!

Mother Grizzly and three babies

Hiking in the Tetons

Morning Glory Pool. It's actually fading because people are throwing things into the pool. How sad. :(

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

Lately we've been having some problems with the neighbors. Not so much problems with the neighbors (we never see them!) but problems with their cars/friends' cars/used car lot. When you live in a duplex, your neighbors are super close, you see. I'm not sure WHAT is going on next door, but it's not normal. The two car driveway usually houses four cars, with at least two overlapping into the yard. PLUS there are usually two to three cars parked in front of our house on the curb. One is always in front of the mailboxes and one is directly in front of our house. I know it's a free country, and the streets are for public use, yadda, yadda, yadda. WE LIVE IN A TWO BEDROOM/TWO BATHROOM DUPLEX. What can y'all possibly be doing with all these cars? It just looks trashy.

We do have a homeowner's association. One time we got a letter from the homeowner's association asking us to cut the grass. Now that I get. Sure, we were being lazy about it. We cut it and moved on. I think this offense is slightly elevated from tall grass. I have been trying not to bring them into it. I was giving the elusive neighbors the benefit of the doubt. Until yesterday.

What I'm going to tell y'all, I'm not proud of. But anyone who knows me, knows that I can get pretty riled up when I feel wronged. I'm not one to back down from confrontation if I feel it's needed. And it was needed.

So yesterday I go to leave for dinner with some friends. I notice that there's a big ass truck parked outside on the curb. It's blocking half of our driveway. "Hmmmmph. Guess I'll try to go around it." is my first thought. Then I got a little pissed because this is always the case. Cars, cars everywhere! I live inside a used car lot. So, I go to the neighbor's house and knock on the door. For the record, I was going to be nice. Say something like, "Whose red truck is that? I'm sure you don't realize it, but it's blocking our driveway. Thanks! (smile)"

That was the original plan. I knock. No one answers. Now there's no way they're not home, what with all the cars parked outside and all. I hear some pans banging around. WTF? I knock again, harder this time. Nothing. More pans banging around. Must be dinner time at the Douchebag house. Now I'm getting really pissed. You are ignoring me?!?! Oh, I don't think so!

I go back inside my house and leave a "sweet" message for our homeowner's association. Then I proceed to back out of our driveway. I thought I had it the first time, but had to try again. Thought I had it the second time, but had to try again. Now I am really, really pissed. I mean, I'm selling my car this summer and the last thing I need is to screw it up because this person is an idiot. So what do you do when you're pissed and the neighbor's won't answer their door? You guessed right. You lay on the horn. I mean, that's what they're there for, right? To call attention to yourself. So as I'm backing out, I'm honking and turning the wheel. Like laying on it, long annoying honks, just for them. Expressing my discontent in horn form. Ignore that!

Finally, third time's a charm. Barely scraped out. I almost used all my horn up. It was one of those close calls where I had to get out of my car to see if there was any damage.

I'm aware what it looked like. I know what you're thinking. You've really lost it this time. Crazy lady! It was kind of like an out-of-body experience. I had had enough! But if I made them feel the least bit bad about it, it was worth it. Plus, it made me feel a little better to tell the whole street how pissed I was at the neighbors. I know. Maybe one day I'll pass third grade.

The neighbors we had before these people weren't exactly Ozzy and Harriet either. It was a couple with a 5 year old boy. We got multiple visits by the mother, drunk off her ass, 5 year old in tow. She was usually stopping by to say hi or one she asked for help finding a new place to stay (which I complied, but couldn't help much) after she had gotten in a fight with her husband. I still get calls from debt collectors about those people. They call us because this is their last known address and they know we were their neighbors, so we MUST know where they are. Ridiculous.

I guess to look on the bright side, the neighbors aren't serial killers or running a meth lab. That we know of, at least. It could always be worse.

Softball Wednesdays=rained out

That's a good thing, though. It has really cooled us off down here in the pits of hell, um...I mean "spring" in Texas. Really, not sure about moving to Honduras. I really did try to find a job in a colder climate, but it seems that this Texan is destined for some more heat. Awesome.

On a completely unrelated note, here's what's going on in my life right now:

1. The last day of school is tomorrow. This is awesome and sad. It's crazy how you can literally have both of these emotions at the same time.
Awesome=sleeping in, summer time freedom, vacay, new adventures, traveling the word, new friends
Sad=always sad to have your class leave, leaving my school, old friends and coworkers, hard to leave AMERICA!!

2. Since it's the last day of school, we will be having a talent show. And you should see the talent! No really, you should come by tomorrow at 8:00 am to see this talent. It rocks!

Some of the acts include break dancing, a jump rope routine, a "Beat It" dance with real Michael Jackson choreography (that's ours), singing in English AND Spanish, dancing to songs in English AND Spanish, a "Thriller" dance with real Michael Jackson choreography, and a flash mob (3rd grade!!).

Break a leg talent show participants!!

3. Spoiler alert!! Old Yeller!!
I just finished reading Old Yeller to my class. It's a classic, plus I'm a sucker for animals. If you don't know the story, then stop reading here!!

Okay, I was an emotional basket case. I started to cry at the part where Old Yeller gets hurt about halfway through the book. You see, Old Yeller got into it pretty bad with some wild pigs. His insides were tore up pretty good and Travis had a huge gash on his leg. Old Yeller was protecting Travis. So here I am crying. AND I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO SURVIVE!! I have read the book before.

A student had to read it for the class. Ridiculous! One of my girls that has read it says, "Wow. I'm not sure you want to keep reading." This is her way of saying, "Good God, lady. What are you going to do when Old Yeller actually dies!! Are we going to have to get a sub??"

I tried to read the last part where Travis has to shoot Old Yeller and I can hardly stand it because I'm really trying not to cry now. Kids are handing me tissues and looking at me worried. Defeated, I handed the book to the designated reader so she can finish up the sad part. One student reaches her hand up and holds mine so I can soldier through it. Sweet. And ridiculous. I know this!!

We survive the end of the book and talk about it. Then we watched the movie and compared the two. Surprisingly, the movie didn't move me as much. The book is almost always better. The class was ready, though. Precious kids.