Healthy Lifestyle Change

Well, I wanted to get back into the blog world. Since my last blog I've had some life changes. I did not enjoy living in Star Valley so at the end of that school year I put my house up for sale and moved to SLC, UT. Unfortunately, I was only able to stay there for about a month because I realized that with my house not selling I could not afford to pay that house payment and live in SLC. So, I moved back home to Bear Lake and looked for a new school job. Luckily, I was able to find an open position in Evanston WY. I lived at home and commuted to work until I was able to get the house sold. At which point, I moved into an apartment in Evanston. I stayed there through the last school year and at the end of May, I found a house to rent that is just perfect for me and my dog.

It has definitely been a new adventure and it has been made easier by all my new friends I have made. Many of them I call my "new teacher friends" because we all moved here at the same time and are considered "new teachers". My work assignment here has been in the middle school setting which I never thought I would enjoy but I have found that I love working with this age group! I also have enjoyed living in Evanston. I especially enjoy that it's not so remote and I have access to a Walmart. It's also only an hour from Salt Lake which is nice because I can pop up for quick visits. Last year was my first year in Evanston and currently I am in the middle of my second year.

Anyway, it's the first of February and I find myself looking forward to a cruise I have scheduled for Spring break in April. Unfortunately, that also means that I need to get in shape! This brings me to the point of my blog. I'm hoping to chronicle my process of getting healthy and fit. By writing about this, I'm hoping it will help me stick to my guns!

For me, I'm basically going to follow an organic /whole foods approach. As for exercise, I'll be getting up in the mornings and doing 30 minutes of walking or bike riding. I may also add some swimming on some evenings and/or dancing since these are activities that I enjoy.

I'm very excited and hope to keep you all informed as to how this goes! 12 weeks to my cruise!
~MW

STAR VALLEY ADVENTURES

Well, I survived the move. Barely. It sure was interesting starting work but having no place to live. I hadn't closed on my house and work started. At first, I tried to drive back and forth from Bear Lake but after being late I realized I needed to be closer so I rented a motel room. What an experience! The guy who owned it was very nice but would pop up outside my door to surprise me. I'd be hanging out with the door open and all of a sudden I would hear "Monica". 

Scared me everytime! I almost pulled out the kickboxing moves a couple of times. 'watch out now!' 

My first day of school though, another teacher introduced herself and offered to let me stay with her. As I stayed, we realized we got along really well and since her lease was up we decided to keep the roomate situation and have her move in with me :) Yeah! She even has a fun dog that is very well behaved. So, a win/win situation for everyone. 

Finally I got closed and I joined the world of homeownership. The first thing I realized is there's a lot of work to homeownership! We began cleaning the carpets but the previous owners had pets that peed on the carpet so they smelled horrible and they were not coming clean so Joanna and I ripped out all the carpets. (girlpower!)

But that took a while because we are both working full time. So, it took the whole month of september to move in and get settled in. While doing all that I also had to get set up with the post office, get telephone, utilities, tv...the essentials. I'm also in the process of starting a dance school up here and I've been working on that. 

I'm basically working 12-14 hours a day! It's been so crazy and I'm sure it will continue to be. Although, it has settled down. Last Sunday we finally finished unpacking the kitchen. I can now cook real food instead of eating at Maverick. That's been nice. 

The weather here has been very nice! The mornings are fairly cool. This morning it was 27 but the afternoons have warmed up to 70 which is perfect. I'm cringing for winter though. I've heard lots of horror stories. But so far so good...no snow. 

I'm looking forward to helping with the roundup this weekend. My dad invited me to come ride through the hills and round up dogies. I'll have to take a camera and take cool pictures of the fall foliage. The leaves and colors are beautiful up here. 

Well, work comes early and I need to get to bed! 

Laters

Day 4-10 Highlights

It's taking a really long time to load pictures even with cable internet so I'm just going to touch on the highlights of the rest of the trip.

Sunday a few of us went on a hike with our new friend John. He took us to see the waterfall that he lives by. It was crazy to see all the beautiful scenery and then think people are living in such poor houses in the middle of it all. We were especially baffled to see such a beautiful waterfall in the midst of the city. Every now and then cars honked at us as they drove by on the dirt trail. We kept forgetting we were on one of the main roads.



We spent the rest of the week doing speech therapy testing. There were about 5 of us in the speech committee.







Towards the end of the trip I did get a chance to teach some Irish dance and country swing dance to some of the older girls. That was a lot of fun.

On friday they performed some traditional dances for us in the closing ceremonies. We in turn got up and performed the Boot, Scoot and Boogie. It was a such a fun experience. Afterwards one of the teachers came up to me and said "I like your dancing. You are a very vigorous dancer" I said thank you but I started wondering "Was that a compliment?" :)

Our last day at the Kaaga school, I got to say good-bye to my two favorites Lucy and Elosee.

During the weekend the group went on safari. I selected some of my favorite pictures. My favorite animals were the elephants and lions.

Oh, and we got to see a tame rhinoceros, Morani. He was pretty cool.





The next week the speech committee spent more time at the Kaaga school while the rest of the school went to the Huruma center. Then on Friday it was time to head back home. It was a very good trip and I hope you all enjoyed the picutres!