Fun Week

Justin and I had a fun week this week. Monday we had ultimate games in the evening. We played two games in the wind: it was not as much fun as the night before but we still enjoyed playing. The weather has creeped into the steady 100's and will remain so for the next eight weeks at least. We've pretty much adjusted to the point where when we walk outside and it's 104 degrees we both look at each other and say, "Not too bad." 

I recently started teaching one of my friend's kids piano. I teach five of her seven kids from age 6 to 16. I teach on Mondays so that's been fun. It's a learning experience for us all for sure!

This week I had a job interview with a new school. - side note - the front office had a book of pictures from Sun Valley Idaho and there were pictures of the Lost River Range that gave me quite the bout of homesickness...I miss my Idahome! Moving on...I totally nailed the interview and they offered me a job on the spot - 7th grade earth science. They showed me which classroom would be mine and told me their school is part of a pilot program next year and all the kids will have a laptop/tablet-type-technology-thing (I can't remember what they called it) that they'll use in the classroom and at home. The school is a good 20 minutes from our house in an at-risk neighborhood so much different than what I student taught. The principal and vice principal want me SO BAD (it feels good to feel wanted so badly...they said, "We can't believe nobody has snatched you up yet!" ha...). They offered to let me pick any classroom I wanted, and they called a couple of times telling me, "We're rooting for you!" They need an answer by tomorrow (Monday) whether I take the position or not. 

The reason I'm not jumping at the offer is because there may still be an offer from the school I student taught at: great neighborhood, five minutes away, and - hello - I student taught there, so I pretty much already have my work-family established there (and I could be a basketball coach there!). I made an appointment with the new principal Friday morning to learn about the positions opening, and she right away told me there are two spots she can potentially fill me in for....'potentially'....so not a "we want to hire you today" offer like the other school. I'm waiting to hear back tomorrow from her on whether or not I will fill an 8th grade physical science position. If that isn't available, there may be a 7th/8th grade teaching position for me that wouldn't open up until August at the latest...so that is risky, but she reassured me that hiring me is what everybody at the school wants (Dean of Students, Vice Principal, science department, basketball coaches, etc.). There are pros and cons to both schools but I feel that in the latter's case, the pros outweight the cons so if I am offered a job tomorrow, that's what I want to do. If I'm not offered a job...we'll see what August brings.

Nevada license is in! In 30 days I'll be ready to go.

I had a very successful week this week in my business. It has been SO MUCH FUN. I absolutely love it! We are that much closer to paying off all our debt, and my trip to Dallas at the end of July is paid for. Boom. Roasted.

Friday for our date we ate at Settebello's pizza and had cheesecake for dessert. We've been taking regular trips to the clubhouse pool to cool off. This week we get to be in Boise Wednesday through Sunday to work as pyrotechnicians in the Boise firework show. Some of my family just visited Boise to see my oldest brother Hart be set apart as a bishop. This will be the second time he's served in a bishopric. Because my parents went to Boise for that, we will miss them this coming weekend but we will see them for Atomic Days. Also, my dad was just called as the first counselor of the Idaho Falls temple presidency. His farm is doing well despite the fact that he has practically zero water. I am privileged to be part of such a strong family of faith. I see the miracles happening in my family's life and it strengthens my testimony. I know the gospel is true!

Settebello's...Justin got sausage, basil, and olives.

I got artichoke, Canadian bacon, and olives.

Sushi in St. George from our camping fail a few weeks ago.

Pictures from Seattle

Here are pictures from our trip to Seattle a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Pizza before takeoff

Soccer Golf

Snoqualmie Falls

Point Defiance Zoo

Theo's Chocolate Tour

Riding the ferry to Seattle

Pacific Science Center

Butterfly Exhibit

Snoqualmie Falls

Utah Summer Games

On Monday Justin and I joined an ultimate summer league. I'm not sure how many weeks it will go, but they split us into teams and now every Monday night we'll have two games of competitive ultimate. We really enjoyed last Monday night even though it was really windy. With all the Insanity we've been doing we were able to play the full two hours without any subs!

I got a call from the ward executive secretary to meet with our bishop on Thursday. I have a new calling but I get to keep my old calling so I still get to do ward missionary stuff. I'm a new relief society teacher which I'm happy about. Justin got a new calling as well along with being ward missionary. He's now the first counselor in the Sunday school presidency. 

The blower on our car quit so Justin bought the part and saved us $150 by installing it himself. He did it in perfect time for us to take another trip this weekend. When we played in our summer league games on Monday one of our friends Juan approached us and said they really needed one more guy and girl to play with them in a tournament in Cedar City. We went back and forth on whether we would be able to make it work and finally decided to go. We have a friend from college who has family in Cedar City that graciously offered their house for the BYU-I team to stay. After talking to him he said we could stay there too if we needed so Friday morning I blitzed to get everything ready and we were on the road by 11 o'clock! We got to Cedar City two and a half hours later just in time to play in our team's second game. We played two games that day ending the day with two wins and one loss. We ate at a burger joint that was AMAZING for dinner (they had fry sauce!!!) and then went straight to Warr's parent's home to relax. After cleaning up we went to their downstairs theater room where the rest of the BYU-I team was camped out watching Tron. I watched that for a little bit and quickly hated it so I went to bed early.

Saturday we were guarenteed at least three games but we needed to win them all if we wanted to win the tournament. Our first game was at 9:00. We won our first game and lost our second so our third game was for 3rd or 4th place, and 3rd place won bronze medals so we were pumped! We won our third game and we were done playing by 1:30. We had a little ceremony where they gave us all our medals and took our pictures so it was fun. Justin and I agree that this tournament was the msot fun of any tournament we've ever played in. For the first time, everybody on our team was just as good or better than us, so it was a lot of fun to play at a high level of competitive ultimate. My feet are totally shred: I replaced the soles in my cleats but I still have huge blisters. I had a couple bids so I am very sore but it was a total blast.

We got home Saturday night in time for our ward bbq. We got to eat another cheeseburger! Ha...we love hamburgers. We started a game of ultimate with the youth after dinner which was fun. We watched Can't Buy Me Love that night.

Justin and I have our plane tickets for Idaho in July to see the Beal clan which is coming up soon. I'm so excited! I also have my plane ticket to Dallas Texas at the end of July for Seminar for my business. I'll also be flying to Idaho again for Redfish in the middle of August, and then we'll be camping at Zion's National Park the first week of September. We have a lot more adventured planned for our summer! That's all our news for now until next time!

Seattle and Sand Hollow

Two weeks ago Justin and I went to Seattle to visit his family. We were able to do a lot of things with his family while we were there. We flew out of Las Vegas at 5:30 on Tuesday night and Jon picked us up from the airport around 8:00. The next morning he and his wife Laura had work so we drove Jon to work and then took his car to see Snoqualmie Falls. It was overcast that morning and a wonderful break from the 105 degree heat we've been having. Justin and I were able to snap a few shots of us with the falls. I like having a 3rd wheel someone like James or Keaton to tag along because then they can be the designated picture-taker with the promise to take their picture in return. I used to always do that on geology field trips: "You take a picture of me and I'll take a picture of you." sort of deal.

After Snoqualmie Falls we explored the cute town of Snoqualmie and grabbed some hot chocolate and a mini coconut creme pie to split at lunch. Then we went to Coulon Beach and enjoyed looking out at the water and watching families feed the birds pieces of bread. We drove back to Puyallup to Jon and Laura's house to do our Insanity workout. We waited around until it was time to pick up Jon from work. We headed to Tacoma and explored the famous glass art exhibits and checked out the yachts on the water. Jon drove us to Target to kill time until dinner, and then we met the whole family in Gig Harbor for Lunchbox Laboratory. They do all sorts of burger creations there which we certainly loved. We split an almond joy milkshake too: yum! From there we traveled with Justin's parents to stay the night at their house.

Thursday we all took the Ferry and headed into Seattle for the day. We hit the Pacific Science Center which was AMAZING. There were kids everywhere. They say they see up to 1,000 kids a day between all the field trips. We watched a documentary in the IMAX theater on coral reefs. We explored the butterfly exhibit and pretty much everything else the place had to offer. We made an appointment for a chocolate tour at Theo's Chocolate which allowed us to sample as much chocolate as we wanted. It was surprisingly informative and enjoyable! We drove back to the ferry after that and made our way home. Justin's parents got us all Subway while Justin and I exercised and then we played games late into the night.

Friday Jon and Laura had work off so we met together at Point Defiance for lunch and then hit the zoo! Justin and I went with Joe while his parents, Jon and Laura went the other direction. My favorite animals were the walrus and the elephant. The walrus were HUGE - much bigger than I realized - and they were showing off for us by doing fun turns in the water. Similar story for the elephants: we got to see them while a zoo keeper told us about their stories and one of them showed us one of her old circus moves. They were fun. That night we all had dinner at Jon and Laura's. I made pasta salad and watched Clara so the family could play Seven Wonders. Justin's parents headed back and we stayed there for the night.

Saturday we played soccer golf which was so fun! A golf course in Lakewood has a soccer golf course attached to it, meaning for every hole of golf, there is a hole for soccer golf on the same patch of green. It's golf, but with soccer! Different holes would have par 3, 4, or 5. Justin ended up with the best score after 18 holes. This was my favorite part of the trip! The weather was fabulous! That night we had dinner again at Jon's house but we also had the Hunters join us and we got to try out Jon's new game Werewolf. It's like mafia on steroids - Justin and I played in in college with our frisbee friends back before we were dating. We drove back to Silverdale with Justin's parents that night.

Sunday we went to church, then played games and had lunch until it was time to go to the airport. We landed in Las Vegas around 8:00 PM and my friend Rachel picked us up. This was the longest visit to date and we were blessed with amazing company and Washington summer weather. It was good to see so much green after so much desert.

This past weekend Justin and I decided we wanted to go camping so I made a reservation at Sand Hollow. I camped there on a geology field trip two years ago. It is all sand and it has a reservoir, so we were looking forward to some fun in the water! We arrived at our campsite around 4:00 PM and it was WINDY. We tried setting up camp but with the wind we bagged it and just headed to the reservoir. After swimming around for a few minutes it became apparent that the 50 mph wind gusts were not going anywhere. We planned to make a fire to cook our dinner: that wasn't happening in this wind. We also had Justin's two-man tent to sleep in: good luck staking that down in the sand with the wind. As the wind continuously blew grains of sand into our eyes we decided camping would be miserable... so we bagged it! Instead of driving home we decided to have an adventure in St. George! We hot a room at the Ramada, explored the strip mall nearby and had sushi at the Ninja Sushi and Steakhouse restaurant. That night Justin enjoyed watching hockey and soccer in our room. #nocable

Saturday we headed home after some continental breakfast. Saturday we had amazing weather. The high was only 90 degrees! We got home at 11:00 AM and after we put everything away we hit the pool at our clubhouse and then had a BBQ that evening with the camping food we didn't eat. We went to the park and played a few games together and then tossed the disc around and went for a walk. It was heavenly! We went to How to Train Your Dragon 2 that night: I didn't love it. The first one will always have a special place in my heart, though.

Today I gave the lesson in Relief Society on the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood which I supplemented with Elder Oaks's most recent Priesthood Session General Conference talk "The Power and Authority of the Priesthood." By using both I was able to clear up a lot of misconceptions concerning women with the priesthood. We had a great discussion even though we were hurting in numbers (there were about 10 other ladies plus me).

With today being father's day I have a lot to be grateful for. I have the most amazing father! I am so blessed to call Seth Beal my dad. I am so proud to be a part of the Seth and Shelley Beal clan! We have an amazing heritage; it encourages me to live up to where I come from. Dad is the most humble person I know, and he is by far the smartest and the wisest. Honestly, words don't do him justice. He's simply amazing. Happy Father's Day Dad! You're the best.

Memorial Weekend and Other Events

For Memorial Day Justin and I decided to hike Black Mountain. We didn't want to hike in the sun at all, so we got up at 4:30 to hit the trail at 5:00. Well 5:00 turned into 6:00 because a.) we slept in and b.) we couldn't find the trail head! But by 6:00 we were on our way. We hiked on the west side of the mountain and at our pace we were able to hike in the shade of the mountain for the majority of the way. That was a relief as it's already between 80 and 90 degrees when the sun comes up! It took us an hour and a half to summit the 5,093 ft mountain, so by 7:30 we had the morning sun view of the Las Vegas valley and the surrounding desert. It was pretty cool! The hike was relatively easy until the last bit. The incline was very steep. Justin took a video to show how steep it was. We ended up seeing a lot of lizards, rabbits, and one snake. It was the perfect Memorial Day activity!

Solar Panels in the background

Las Vegas Valley

Henderson

All the sweat and glory! 

Random lights several miles south of Las Vegas...very mysterious

I have a bad habit of holding my hand in this strange position...awky

It took an hour and a half to get back to our car. At that point it was over 90 degrees and some people were barely starting the hike...idiots! The only way to do it is before the sun, people!

We made it home and cleaned up to go to lunch at Jason's Deli. It's my favorite lunch date destination! From there we went to the mall and I bought a headband PLUS I ran into one of my students which was so fun. The rest of the day we stayed inside watching Netflix trying to stay cool. When the sun went down we threw the disc around and that was it for our holiday. We were happy just to spend it together.

Since student teaching is over I have been working my business like crazy. I love it! I facialed 15 people in 6 days last week and earned a diamond ring for doing it! It was hard but it's so fun to set and achieve goals. Not to mention I made a lot of money! I attended Success Meeting on Thursday and I got to hear from the top Director of Sales in Nevada and the area's National was also there. It was awesome! I really love doing skin care and makeup with ladies. It's a lot of fun and most are eager to learn and better yet, buy product!  I'm excited to continue to work my business for the rest of the summer.

#15faces #7days #missionaccomplished #diamonds #MaryKay #beautyconsultant

We've had three baptisms in the past two weeks with three more scheduled for June. The work is on fire in our ward! We love being ward missionaries and being a part of it all. Sharon was baptized this Saturday and asked Justin and me to speak. I made a craft for her to keep to remind her of her baptismal covenants. After the baptism we went to a presentation on LifeVantage and their product Protandim and then went out to dinner with our new best friends, Rachel and Dean Haymore. Rachel and I decided we are going to get up and exercise in the mornings together. She and her husband are Hart and Jory's age and I consider her my best friend here and what's better is she said the same thing about me! Huzzah for friendship! Justin and I taught Gospel Principles today in church on prayer. I shared my testimony of asking in our prayers. I love sharing the story of our miracle so it was very uplifting to share that experience with the class.

Sharon's baptism

Justin and I are looking forward to spending a week in Seattle. We can't wait for the cooler weather! We have been doing Insanity for the past couple weeks. Hopefully we will keep it up while on vacation. That's about all our news. Seattle here we come!