Lake Chelan

This past weekend, I took a very quick trip to Lake Chelan. I went over there to cheer on my dear friend Debbie as she ran a triathalon (and her friend Danielle) and hung out with her son Daniel as they participated in the race. I had a blast hanging out with Daniel and also being able to see one of my roommates from college, Meyo, who I haven't seen in five years! It was so great to see her and hang out! Lake Chelan is absolutely beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there!

Meyo and I.

Me posing for a picture as Daniel and I waited for Danielle and Debbie to come by on their bikes. We followed them along the trail and stopped ahead of them so we could cheer them on and take some pictures.
Daniel and I having fun together.
Danielle and Debbie on the run!
Daniel posing with Debbie once she finished the race!

Wordle

This is a fun little waste of time project! :) Click on the picture to see a bigger version and to figure out how you, too, can be as cool as me and have one of these on your blog! :)

Weekend at the cabin

This weekend I was invited to a friend's cabin for the weekend. The two friends I went with are the two girls I will be living with next year. We had a great time together. My friend's parents have this cabin near the Hood Canal that is just beautiful. On Saturday we spent all day on the boat on a lake. It was great and the weather was perfect. Sad to say that I got a bit fried even with so much sunscreen on. I look like a lobster! Here are a few pictures of our fun. There will be more to come! :)

Melynda and I on the ferry dock. It was freezing!

A beautiful Seattle sunset.
Melynda, Katriina and I having fun on the beach.

Katriina and Melynda

Mini Family Reunion

Notice that Alauna is wearing my sunglasses! :)

Last Thursday, Heather, Micah and I drove down to Olympia to meet up with my Aunt Kathy and her kids Matt and Maecie and my cousin's husband Angie and their daughter Alauna. We met at Olive Garden and stayed there for 3 hours!!! It was a great time of catching up and hanging out. Micah just loved Alauna and Maecie, he was attached to them the whole time - it was quite precious.

Maecie, Micah, Alauna and Matt enjoying their time together.

Angie and Aunt Kathy

I love Micah's expression in this picture!

On our way home, Heather and I witness a bizarre accident. We were in the fast lane when we noticed a motorcycle coming up on the left, where the shoulder was. We looked closer and realized there was not a driver on this motorcycle, it was just flying down the shoulder bumping against the barrier. It eventually ended up hitting a car in front of us and landing in the bushes. Bizarre, I know! The only thing we can think is that there was an accident behind us that threw the driver off of his bike and since he was going so fast, the bike just kept going. Interesting. Micah slept through the whole thing! :)

Loving summer...

The sunny weather has finally arrived and it makes me so happy! :) I have been able to go on a few walks/runs and it feels great!

I am nannying two days a week for this sweet family that I found online. I am loving every minute of it! The kids are precious and so fun to be with! Toby is almost 7 and Ella is 2 1/2. They are such well behaved kids! I am so fortunate to have found such a great family!

Since the weather has been so nice, we went to the park twice this week. Here are some pictures of the fun we had. They are oh so cute!

One great thing is that Toby and Ella truly love each other and get along great!

Ella getting the rocks out of her toes.

Relaxing on the couch!

Toby helping me make some yummy cookies.

Some of our favorite things to do together: color, play hide and seek, dancing, singing worship songs (nothing is cuter than hearing a 2 year old sing Open the Eyes of my Heart!).

Toby asks a lot of questions and just loves to talk. Every once in a while throughout the day our conversation will sound something like this:

Toby: "Amber?"

Me: "Yes, Toby?"

Toby: "I love you."

Nothing is sweeter than that.

Tomorrow I am off to smokey northern California for 10 days. I am looking forward to hanging out with old friends and Mom and Dad!

Summer so far

has been amazing!!! Yeah for summer and for the sunshine! Now that the sun is out, it feels a bit more like summer.

I started my nanny job this week and it has been a blast. The kids are so adorable and just great kids. I am doing this two days a week which is perfect for me. It is something to keep me busy but not too much work. I will try and get some pictures of these cute little kids that I am playing with this summer.

A week from today I head home to Auburn and I am looking forward to some time with Mom and Dad and some old friends.

I know this post isn't the most exciting and pictureless but I thought I would update this for whoever reads it! :)

The faces I grew to love this year...

School is officially over and I still am unsure of how I feel. I am relieved that this year is over because it was a challenging one. This was a tough class and yet I grew so attached to them. On the last day of school, I told myself I would not cry but I did, BIG TIME! When I saw a few of my other students crying that was too much for me! That showed me the impact I had on these kids though and humbled me to say the least.

Today we said goodbye to all the staff that is leaving. Our 2 hour brunch turned into four hours of tears and laughter. It was wonderful. Once it was over, I was so overwhelmed by gratitude for this school and for God allowing me to be at such a healthy and rich place. I truly am going to miss my family that I have become a part of this year. I am going to miss the daily connections I have with all of the staff. It is only 2 months!

Don't get me wrong...I am VERY excited for the summer and some much needed relaxation. I am going to miss my friends though but know we will hang out.

I sat down and talked with Todd for a few hours yesteday and today and it was such a great time of reflection. It was great to see how much God has taught me this year and how much I have grown as a teacher. It is incredible to be under such great leadership and feel so supported. Todd and Ron gave me the confidence I needed to grow as a teacher and become who I am today. I am very thankful for that. I will definitely miss Ron next year, he has been the best boss to work for!

Todd and I ended our chats in a time of prayer and that was so moving. We prayed for our summers, for what God had in store and gave thanks for the great things that took place this year in us and in this school.

I could not be any happier in my job than I am now and that makes me so extremely grateful! I hope to stay at this school for many more years to come!

Here are some pictures of the precious faces that I am going to miss (but gladly am passing onto 3rd grade :)

How can you not love these sweet faces?
A couple of my girls dressing up like Pioneers
The whole gang, cuter than ever!
My sweet girls
The infamous Mclain, the one that makes me laugh every day by his comments and the one that told me on the last day of school that he had a crush on me.