Anniversary, Birthday, and Church

On June 24th, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We had been talking about going to Naples, which is on the gulf coast of Florida, and we finally booked our hotel the night before. As soon as Kevin was home from work on Friday, we grabbed some Chipotle and headed over to Naples. It is normally just over an hour drive, but we had crazy rain the whole way there. And by crazy, I mean crazy. We couldn't see anything due to the rain, and it was extremely dark, and I was sure we were gonna run into an alligator as the stretch of freeway is aptly named "Alligator Alley."

But we made it safely to the Naples Grande Beach Resort. Saturday we decided to make a run to waffle house and it did not disappoint. We had amazing chocolate chip pancakes, an omelet, hash browns, and bacon. Yum :) We spent the remainder of the day at the pool and at the beach. The resort technically wasn't right on the beach, but they had golf carts that took you through a mangrove forest out to the water. The water was similar to what we are used to in Miami, but the sand was whiter and there were shells EVERYWHERE. Naples beaches get a lot of interesting shells due to different tides and different wind patterns. (I read something about that...but I don't remember the details.) It was so relaxing and enjoyable.

That night we got dressed up for our special anniversary date :) Kimberly had given me a beautiful new dress that I was supposed to save for my birthday, but then she told me I could wear it early! I figured this would be a good reason to wear it because A) I wanted to feel cute, and B) My sister has good taste!! Let me just say that the food was beyond amazing. We shared a wedge salad, then ordered filets, broccoli, and potatoes romanoff. The filet was one of the best I have ever had. It was cooked perfectly and was piping hot, just like I like it. The broccoli was decent, but nothing to write home about. It wasn't steamed super well, but who cares. The potatoes, wow, were to die for. Imagine garlic-y mashed potatoes, in a white dish, topped with cheeses and then baked. I really wish I could eat some right now. For breakfast :)

After dinner we exchanged cards and it was really the perfect ending to such a nice weekend. We stayed Saturday night as well, slept in Sunday, then went to the pool one last time because we had to try the waterslide that wasn't running the day before. I felt really cool in line with all the kids under 5, oh and the parents with the kids under 5. But it was fun regardless.

I am just grateful to have Kevin as my husband. He is so fun, so loving, and so perfect for me. I need him in my life, and I look forward to many more anniversaries.

The next weekend was my good friend Daleth's birthday party at a place called Splitsville. It is basically a fancy bowling alley, with pool tables, catered food, etc. We had a fun time, even though I did really lousy at bowling. I wasn't going to play because I forgot my socks (dumb, I know) and I wasn't about to wear those shoes with no socks. But they convinced me to play in my sandals...and that is my excuse why I did so bad, hahaha. My sandals must have been sticking. (How's that for justification!!)
The birthday girl in all her glory. I really love Daleth. She has become one of my very best friends and I was glad we could celebrate with her. I made her red velvet cupcakes because she is in love with red velvet anything. I kind of hate cupcakes, but she loved them, so that's what matters. Who knew that those cupcakes take so much red food coloring, holy cow! I had to go back to the grocery store twice before I had the right amount.

And last but not least, an after-church picture. Kevin is generally running a little behind on Sunday mornings when he has meetings, so I will grab his clothes from the closet and lay them out for him. The beauty of this is that I pick his tie (which he sometimes changes) and I actually already knew what I was going to wear that day. Is that ridiculous that I made him match me? I don't care, I love that tie and I had a perfectly matching skirt, so there you go!! (Excuse my hair, I look like i was going for some colonial hairstyle, when in reality I was swooping my bangs to cover some really awesome zits that have been plaguing me. Probably more than you wanted to know.)

California Love

Disclaimer: This is the longest post ever...apparently I am

NOT good at being selective when it comes to

pictures or words. Skim if you like :)

Well, it's official, my little brother is home from his mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil. In many ways, those two years passed quickly, but then again I felt like it had been forever since I had talked to him or been able to give him a hug. Jeffrey and I are very close, so I was very excited to see him again :) I finished up my last day of work and flew home Wednesday afternoon. Kevin couldn't miss Wednesday, so he had to leave Thursday morning and we were able to get him a flight that "happened" to stop in Dallas. Jeffrey flew from Sao Paulo to DFW, and him and Kevin were on the same flight in to San Jose. Kevin was able to surprise Jeffrey at the terminal, then they enjoyed a first class flight the rest of the way home, compliments of my father-in-law Jerry :)

You can see Kevin video-taping the whole thing as Jeffrey comes out of his gate!! The video is priceless as you see all of us hugging Jeffrey for the first time. We had a bet of who was and wasn't going to cry. Kimberly was almost dead-on with her predictions. Mom thought she wasn't going to cry, which was ridiculous, haha. I might have cried more. But Jeffrey didn't cry? Who knew. I was obviously wrong with my predictions :/

Our good friends the Helveys also came to the airport, but it was a small gathering. Signs compliments of Mom :)
I just love this picture. My dad couldn't have been more excited. We arrived at the airport a little early so we were sitting around talking with the Helveys. Dad walked over to where Jeffrey would come out, and didn't leave his post until he could see his son. When it was close to time, we also joined him, and Dad told Mom, "Lisa, you need to pay attention", because she was talking with Michelle, haha. He was really excited and Kimberly and I were getting a kick out of it.

We headed to In-N-Out for lunch, then straight to the Oakland Temple per Jeffrey's request. It was really special to all be in the temple again since we hadn't done that since he received his endowments 2 years ago. We were able to go with him to be released as well and that was one of my favorite experiences relating to the actual "homecoming". I am certainly proud of my little brother and the amazing missionary that he was.
All I can say is that I love my family. I am lucky to be best friends with my siblings and my parents :)
The next day we signed on our house, so we are officially home owners. Kinda random timing that we closed that weekend, but that was when the papers were finished and since we were buying the home from my parents, it actually worked out in our favor to all be together to avoid overnighting documents back and forth. A notary came to the house and we completed all the paperwork in about an hour.
Then we headed out for a day in the sun. Jeffrey thought he needed to work on a tan, haha. We had a great day together and the weather was perfect. The beaches were littered with seaweed and sticks, but I think it is because CA has seen a lot of rain recently. I had never seen so much debris on the sand before.

Saturday we had a BBQ at my parent's house and we enjoyed the company of close friends.

Kevin and Kimberly both left Sunday, but I was able to stay for another 9 days :) We enjoyed another trip up to Oakland to do a session and several sealings of children to parents. Jeffrey was able to find us some family names, so that was a neat experience.

The rest of the week was spent shopping to get Jeffrey reading for school, then packing/organizing, and hanging out together. Jeffrey headed up to BYU on Friday to take a few courses Summer term before he starts in the accounting program in the Fall. He is also looking for a wife, so anyone with any eligible matches, let me know, haha.

These are out of order, but blogger won't let me rearrange so that's life I guess. These pictures were taken after church the day Jeffrey gave his talk. (Had to document Kevin's new suit that he found one day while we were shopping at the outlets.)

Since I stayed a while longer, I was home for Father's Day. I can't remember the last night that has happened. Mom and I cooked an amazing dinner (If I do say so myself). The line-up: Filet with toasted walnut and black cherry sauce, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Kevin and I are sure lucky to have such wonderful fathers in our lives.

And finally, I met up with a few friends in the area. My friend Jen (no pictures) and I had breakfast together and I also stopped by when she was working with one of her clients who happens to be our old math teacher from Junior High (she had brain tumors and has gone through chemo/radiation, etc.) It was a tender experience, and I am grateful I was able to see her again after all these years.

Then I met up with Brie (BYU roomate) and enjoyed an afternoon together. Love this girl. We laughed a lot. It was just like old times. Then we went to dinner when Jeff (her husband/also my friend) got home from work. What a fun evening :) I am glad they are living in San Jose because I can see my old roomie whenever I go home!
Overall, I had a fabulous time in California. I am grateful the timing worked out to allow for such a great visit. The only problem was that Kevin had to go home and work while I had a great time. The good news is that he managed without me :) But I was happy to be home with him again.

Last Day at Olympia Heights

I am BEYOND behind in blogging, so I figure it is time to get back on the bandwagon! The last few weeks of work were crazy trying to get everything in order before I left. Since I am not returning to Olympia Heights Elementary, or the district for that matter, I wanted to make sure all the paperwork was in order for the next therapist.

As I was beginning my end-of-year paperwork about a month and a half before school ended, I was counting the numbers of sessions missed due to my absence, meetings, etc. Each child could miss up to 5 sessions. I had a few sessions to make-up, but not many. Then it hit me that all 60 of my kids also needed 6 weeks of sessions as well since I didn't start until mid-October. I hadn't really been factoring those in because my attendance logs just started from my first day of work. When I brought this to the attention of the contacts at the Region, I ensured them that I felt confident that I would be able to do some of the make-ups, but that it was physically impossible to do them all.

They basically responded by saying that they were sure I would be able to make-up most the sessions, but that if I needed help just let them know. I thought, man, that's what I was doing!! Letting you know that it is not possible for me to make-up 12 sessions for each of my 60 kids on top of the normal therapy schedule.

Anyway, I made myself a chart and began combining groups like crazy. A lady from the Region came out to help me with my paperwork since I am a newby, and she also told me that she was sure that my 30 minutes sessions were more like 45 minutes because I walked the kids to and from the sessions. I told her that I counted that in the 30 minutes because I picked up groups back-to-back all day, and she then told me that maybe I was taking myself too seriously. I got the impression that she just figured I had already given the kids enough minutes, that I needed to just document it accordingly. I definitely didn't feel comfortable with this, so I just started seeing multiple groups together and I literally did therapy from 9 am to about 3 everyday, then stayed and did the documentation till about 5. But, I am happy to report that I completed all the required minutes for all the kids. I really didn't think it would happen, but the teachers were super accommodating to let me pull the kids whenever I could fit them into the schedule.

I know most of you don't care about this, but I wanted to document this for myself, and also include a few pictures of the kids I worked with. This group was the youngest group of TMH (Trainable Mentally Handicapped) kids I worked with. Loved these kids, even though they were out of control a lot of the time :)

My third-graders. The one with the glasses has severe ADHD and was medicated a few months before school got out. He used to love coming to speech, but after the meds, he never wanted to come. He became super dependent on his teacher and really didn't want to miss class. It was actually really sad. After therapy, they went to lunch, but he never wanted to go to lunch because he said he needed to do his work in class :( I told him that he could do it after lunch, but he was set on going back to class. One time when I picked him up, he asked me if he could get "fired from speech". In his mind, if I fired him from speech, he wouldn't have to come anymore. I kept him after one day to talk with him one-on-one and I asked him why he hated me (forgot to mention that he told me he hated me). He said, "Because you are not making me smart. Only my teacher can make me smart." Poor guy. I asked him how his teacher makes him smart and he said because she gives them tests. I told the teacher, and then when I would pick them up from speech, she would tell him, "Mrs. Meador is going to tell me how you did and I am going to put it in your grades." And it totally worked, hahaha. He thought if he got a grade in speech, I was making him smart :) Go figure.
We decorated sugar cookies on the last day and they thought it was the greatest thing ever. I was amazed at how many kids had never decorated a cookie before. And I was also amazed at how many of them wanted to take it home to their families. Cute kids!
And this is my all-time favorite group of little first grade boys :) Bad picture, but it was the only one I got because the last day was crazy. I am really going to miss all my kids, but it was a great experience and I definitely learned a lot :)

Next post will be about my trip to California for my little brother's homecoming!!