Update?

Here's what's been going on with the Johns, and particularly Mrs. John.
We moved to a new house in June.  I guess I should post pictures; but not all the rooms are fixed up yet!  The main rooms, meaning the kitchen, dining room, and living room, are pretty much how I want them.  All the others are still a work in progress.  The bedroom has a bed.  The spare bedroom also has a bed, but we've been piling random stuff in there as we've been organizing things in other places of the house.  The office is filled with stuff.  The other bedroom (the "pink room") is filled with stuff.  The basement is still filled with boxes that I need to go through.  The bathrooms are decent.  Anyways, I'll post pictures.  You'll just have to understand that we're still in the process of moving in, even after 6 months.  I'm sorry, but it's just so hard to get motivated to unpack and organize after a long day of work!

Our neighborhood is very nice.  We live very close to Jordan Landing, which basically has everything a person could ever want as far as shopping, restaurants, groceries, movie theater, electronics, pets, hardware, etc.  They only problem is that it has a Sam's Club but not a Costco!  See, I'm acting spoiled already :).  And when I say very close, I mean that we can walk to all this.  We are also close to a huge park.  And considering that we are so close to all these places, we are still tucked into a nice little neighborhood--away from the busy streets.  The best of both worlds.  Our ward is also great--and the funny thing is, without even realizing it, we moved into the very same neighborhood as one of my good friends from my PETE (physical education teacher education) program at BYU!  Julie A., for those of you who were in the program with me.  It's fun to be close to her and her family.  There are a lot of very nice people in our ward/neighborhood, and we also live very close to Kevin's sister and her family.  We are blessed.

On another note, I have a job at a school called Navigator Pointe Academy.  It's a small but excellent public charter school in West Jordan, approximately 10 minutes away from my house :).  It houses grades K-9.  My job is kind of weird, actually.  I technically have two part-time positions at the same school.  When I was looking for jobs, I resorted to applying for IA (instructional assistant, paraprofessional) positions because NO ONE was hiring teachers.  I got hired at this school as an IA, so I'd be helping out with an elementary class as well as teaching break-out math and reading classes.  Then, conveniently, the Jr. High PE teacher decided last minute that he wasn't coming back.  Well, look at that, an opening for a teaching position in my background!  So I was hired as the Jr. High PE teacher as well.  So now I teach elementary math and reading in the mornings and Jr. High PE in the afternoons.  I like having both elementary and Jr. High.  It's nice having little kids tell you "I love you!" all morning before I face the "I hate everything you do!" from the middle schoolers.  I've learned not to take anything personally with my Jr. High classes.  It's a phase, right?  I've actually had quite a few students express gratitude and tell me that they really like my class.  As a teacher, it's easy to get caught up in the sour expressions and whines from the kids with bad attitudes.  It's really a conscious effort to remember that most of the kids don't hate you, and in fact, several probably really like you!  I have a lot of respect for people who have done this for multiple decades--or even multiple years.  Somehow, I don't think I'm going to be one of those people... At the beginning of the year, I thought I was going to die.  Teaching has gotten much easier (I'm still counting down the days to May, however!).  I've learned a lot and I've had a lot of personal growth from this experience. 

We also have two wonderful and wonderfully destructive kittens/cats.  I affectionately refer to them as "the buttholes."  I'm hoping they will eventually mellow out and stop destroying all my rugs, plants, and fine linens.  I love my kitties!  In case you didn't know, their names are Miso and Sushi.  They are both very mellow, cuddly, and they love people.  I train my cats to be that way ;).  Even Kevin's sister, who explained that she never really cared for cats or animals, has been persuaded to love Miso and Sushi.  As she puts it, she just "adores" them.  They are good kitties, who occasionally act on their predatory instincts.  Can't fault them for that--just wish I could train them to stop!

The butts

Miso (left) and Sushi (right)

Happy Hour in Africa

I got this video in an e-mail and thought I might share it with y'all. Here's the explanation:

This is a real video from a French documentary about Africa ... You may not understand a word, but the video is funny. There are trees that grow in Africa which, once a year, produce very juicy fruits that contain a large percentage of alcohol. The tree is known as the "Elephant Tree," because elephants have a fondness for the fruit. Because there is a shortage of water, as soon as the fruits are ripe, animals come there to help protect themselves from the heat. What happens next, you can watch for yourselves. You can easily tell who over indulged!...

Moving

Well, we have lived in Alexandria for about 4 months now.  Kevin has been job hunting, and I've been substitute teaching in the meantime.  I started subbing a lot at the elementary school that Kevin's mom works at.  I'm lucky I had a hook-up.  Apparently, subs who rely on the system don't work very much.  You've gotta have an "in".  When I first got the job, Kevin's mom sent an e-mail out to all the teachers at her school telling them to request me.  Everyone was like, "Oh!  You're Barbara John's daughter-in-law!  Can you sub for me....."  That's how it started.  Since then, most (as in all but 2) of my jobs have been at that school.  In fact, the secretary at the school just started adding jobs to my schedule, and I could cancel them if I didn't want to work that day.  Seriously, for a substitute teacher, this is the good life.  Thank you, Mama John!  Being at the same school all the time was awesome.  I really got to know a lot of the teachers and students, and they got to know me.  There was always some kid saying "Hi Mrs. John" as I was walking down the hall... or any variation of Mrs. John, like "Mrs. Jones," "Mrs. Johns," "Mrs. Johnson," "Mrs. J," or my personal favorite, "Mrs. Jonathan."   It was pretty funny.  And here I thought "Ms. Prestwich" was hard for kids to remember....

Kevin, as I said before, has been job hunting and interviewing.  An old friend of his told him about a job in SLC which required a PhD.  Kevin almost didn't apply, because he only has his Masters degree, but decided to apply anyways.  They contacted him about 3 days later, interviewed him a few days after that, gave him a homework assignment and said he probably wouldn't hear from them for about 3 weeks, heard from them 3 days later and got another interview, and then they scheduled him for ANOTHER interview with the president of the company.  The next day, they checked his references and then offered him the job.  We both felt good about it, and he took the job.  So, after hauling all of our stuff out to Virginia and staying for 4 months, we're going back to Utah.  Crazy!!!  He's going to be doing research and PR for a company that develops educational software, so it's right up his alley.

If he had been offered a job in SLC a few months ago, I don't think I would be as sad to leave Virginia.  The area has grown on me in the last little while, and we were just starting to settle in.  We just started to have some good friends to go out with, and I finally felt like I knew a lot of people at church.  I was also very "at home" at the school I've been subbing at.  Today was my last day of work, and I was a little sad.  I ran into a kindergarten class in the hallway that I subbed for a few times, and they all got excited and were saying "It's Mrs. John!!!"  They gave me lots of hugs, and one little boy said, "Mrs. John, I thought I'd never see you again!"  Awwww, that just about broke my heart!  Their teacher must have told them that I won't be subbing for them anymore because I'm moving.  I will miss all the kids....  yes, even the 6th graders.  Now I have to cancel all of my future jobs.  Sad face! :(.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm excited to move back to Utah.  We have a lot of friends and family back West, and this job will be a good opportunity.  I can also be an actual teacher instead of a substitute, since I'm licensed to teach in Utah.  AND we'll actually be able to afford to live out there.  But I will miss Virginia, and living close to Alyssa.  It was fun to visit with her and her family while we were on the East Coast.  At least we'll be getting out of here before it starts getting really hot and humid, right?

We'll be going to Tennessee for 3 days next week to visit Kevin's Grandma, then we'll be packing up our MOVING TRUCK.  We weren't very keen on repeating our experience of driving out here ;).  We'll probably leave on April 25 or 26, and then arrive in Utah on the 28th or 29th (ideally).

Goodbye, Virginia, it's been fun.  Hello, Utah.... again....

Thick-Haired Friends, Check it Out....

It's a well-known fact that if you have thick hair, you shouldn't wash it everyday, ESPECIALLY if you color it or use heat to style it.  Overwashing is bad for your hair and scalp because you need to give your natural oils a chance to do their job.  I've found that if I shampoo my hair two days in a row, it's really dry and hard to deal with the second day.  BUT, it's also annoying to have greasy, flat hair for a day.  Well, I've found a little something that happens to give the best of both worlds...  some of you may have even heard of this before.  It's called "dry shampoo."  It certainly doesn't replace washing your hair, but it helps keep your hair shiny and grease-free between washings!  I saw some at the store yesterday (for less than $5) and decided to give it a try.  Here's how it works.  When I tried it, it didn't make my hair feel like it was freshly washed or anything, but it definitely made it feel (and look) cleaner, fuller, and less greasy.  There's also a dry foam shampoo for thick, curly hair.  So if you have the same issues I do with the between-washings-greasies, check this stuff out.  The stuff I bought was Tresemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo.  I've been emphasizing this for thick-haired people, but if you have fine or thin hair and want to try it, it should work for you too.

Kevin thinks it sounds gross, but he has very short, fine hair (with a bunch of styling gel/hairspray in it) so he needs to wash it everyday anyways---he can't relate :).  AND, just to clarify, when I say I don't wash my hair everyday, it doesn't mean I don't SHOWER everyday.  Just wanted to put that out there so you all don't think I'm gross like Kevin does, haha.

NYC Trip

A couple weeks after I moved to Virginia, I went to visit Alyssa in Connecticut.  I've always enjoyed visiting her in all her various locations, such as Atlanta, San Fran, and Switzerland.  This was my first trip to see her in Connecticut.  I was able to ride the Amtrak train, which took about five-ish hours, riding through 8? 9? 11 states?  I don't remember.  I'm not super familiar with East coast geography yet.

First thing we did after she picked me up was go to Sam's school to see him do some karate.  It was fun watching a bunch of 7-year-olds each kick a board in half.  Sam did it the first try with his bare foot!  Go Sam!  Afterwards we went to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream to celebrate Sam's graduation from Ninja Club. 

Over the next few days I helped Alyssa with the kids, played games with Sam and Mia, went to the gym, watched "The Bachelor" with a bunch of Alyssa's friends, and helped Alyssa plan for Mia's 5th birthday party.  It was fun!  We even went to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel".  It was surprisingly entertaining! haha.

When we visited New York City, we checked out a museum on the lower east side.  It was an apartment building that was very well preserved from being closed down in the 30's.  It used to be an area where a lot of immigrants lived, so we were able to take a tour of the building and get an idea of what it was like for some of those families in the 1800's up until the building got closed.  It was interesting, and our tour guide was.... very dramatic. 

 

Interesting neighborhood where we ate lunch

  
 

It was REALLY cold there!

 
 

 

We bought some cool hats to help keep us warmer.  Behind us is one of the old historical buildings in the area.

Later we went toward 5th avenue/Times Square area.  We found a Lush store where we bought some face and hair masks for later.... Love that store!  We also walked around the famous Macy's on 34th street.  Once it got dark we headed toward Times Square.  We went to the giant Toys R Us, where they have a full sized ferris wheel just inside the door, and took a look around.  My favorite was the animatronic T-rex in the Jurassic Park section! 

 

I kind of felt like a dork here

We were able to meet up with Jared a little later and eat dinner with him.  It was a fun night!  New York is a very cool city.

 

 

 

  

Mia's birthday party was at the end of the week.  She wanted a Wizard of Oz theme.  The little girls started out getting whirled up to the attic by a tornado, where they had to use their Glenda wands to pop all the attacking bubbles! (bubble machine).  Next, they followed the Yellow Brick Road (construction paper) to munchkin land where they had to eat their way through the munchkin doughnut forest to earn their rings.  They continued on the yellow brick road and ran into the candy bomb set up by the wicked witch (pinata).  Once they exploded the bomb, they were able to enter Emerald City and receive their ruby slippers to return home.  Then it was cake and pizza time, oh yeah.  We made an awesome looking cake.

 

Mia had me draw the characters for the cake.  She LOVED them!  Especially Dorothy.  After I made Dorothy she was playing with it and humming, and apparently it was too much for Sam.  I heard him say, "Mia!  Just because Hillery makes a paper doll for you, doesn't mean you have to sing about it!!" Haha. Oh, siblings.... 

And of course, after the kids went to bed we watched American Idol and pampered ourselves with the Lush hair and face masks.  Pants on the ground.

Thanks for a fun trip, Lys!

 

The Big Snowstorm

Here are some pics from what they are calling "The Storm of 2010". I do realize that this much snow is normal for some places, but it's new to any of us that experienced it here! I don't think I even saw this much snow in Utah when I lived there. The only place I have probably seen this much snow was in Colorado in the mountains.

Sitting on a throne of snow

Kevin was working hard to clear the driveway

Exhausting work!

Rob was working on the walkway

That was my attempt of clearing off Kevin's car with a normal snow scraper...

Thank goodness for a 4WD vehicle. My truck earned a little more respect after the storm.

The tiny point on the table is evidence of a tiny snowman Kevin built earlier. It got buried alive. Now the table looks like a Dairy Queen ice cream cone!

View from the front door

Kevin's car

The Saturn

I took a lap around the house... it was exhausting, and cold!

It was very pretty, but thank goodness it melted quickly!

Did I mention we moved to Virginia?

 

 

Kevin and I are currently living in Alexandria, VA. How we got here? Not easily. First we had to pack up all the crap that we accumulated from our first year of marriage. Actually, I bet we threw half of it away. We sold our really cool old couch. I miss that couch. It was all vintage-style and stuff. And it was like 8 feet long. Anyways, we had to organize and pack everything, load it all up onto my truck and into Kevin's car, and then move it to the other side of the country. While we were packing everything up, my truck's transmission decided to break. At least it went out BEFORE the trip. And our toilet also broke and flooded half of the apartment (while all our stuff was spread out on the floor). That was not fun. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Kevin's brother, RJ, came to help us (and buy ammo, since Utah is apparently well-supplied with it). He was a BIG help. I'm glad he came. It was nice having Kevin and RJ doing all the hard labor while I did the house work :).

Once we actually managed to pack all the belongings we possibly could into our two vehicles, which was no easy feat, we limped our way down to Albuquerque to visit my family. We also went that way to avoid driving through Colorado in the winter.... It took about 10 hours to get there. And we actually barely missed a snow storm that blew through Utah. My truck was so loaded that the wheel well in the rear was almost touching the tires! I looked like it was lowered in the back, like we was some ese vatos! We stayed in ABQ for about 2 days. It was too short, but I was glad to visit one last time before I moved to the East Coast.

 

 

From there, we drove 12 hours to Fort Smith, AR and stayed the night. We were exhausted. I had a basket of plants. In my lap. Including a cactus that kept stabbing me. That was terrible. Luckily I had a piece of memory foam to sit on. It saved my bum. Seriously. Literally the day we left Fort Smith, a crazy snow storm came through, and they closed down the freeway and everything. We were really blessed to have not hit any of the bad weather that was happening all around the country while we were traveling.

The next morning we drove another 12 hours to Greenville, TN, where Kevin's Grandma lives. We stayed there for about 5 days over Christmas. Mama John met us down there. It was really fun. We had lots of good food and cool presents! After Christmas, we packed all of our new stuff into Mama John's car and drove the last stretch up to Alexandria, VA. Whew!!! What a trip.

And of course, we weren't done yet. We still had to unpack everything. It took us a few days to really get around to it, but we're finally all unpacked and settled in. Well, mostly unpacked.... We're staying with Kevin's mom for a few months or so until we can find jobs and save up some money for a place of our own. So far it's been nice. There's plenty of room for everyone :).

Yummy!

It's a crushed banana. Although Weedy mainly consumes a carnivorous diet of crickets, she seems to like this. You can see her little lizard tongue as she licks it off my finger, it's kind of cute. :)

ENGRISH

My mother-in-law (Mama John) and I were looking into using henna to color my hair red.  Mama John had heard about it through one of her friends.  It's supposed to be natural and really good for your hair... makes it all shiny and stuff.  The Egyptians have been using it for thousands of years.  We couldn't find it ANYWHERE.  We finally went to a salon and got tipped off as to where we could find some.  We were sent to this tiny Lebanese super-market.  The only henna product they had was "Henna El Captain."  The outside of the box wasn't even in English.  It looked a little sketchy overall.  We ended up buying  it, then got home and looked at the instructions. This is what it reads, word for word (no joke!!!):

Henna El Captain

Composition:

Henna contain fixed natural pigments of plants that importants: 

Lawsone, mannite, and tannic acid act astringent, antiseptics.  

Properties: 

Lawson, mannite that responsible of pigments found in henna.

Tannic acid act ad astringent, antiseptic, filter the scalp from microbes, parasite & fat excreation.

Also reduce sweat excreat and after that disappear Moisture.

of hair that spoil it and also useful in chap and a lot of sweat.

Henna elcaptain has many benefits:

1- useful for dry, gressy, normal hair.

2- prevent falling of hair, strengh it, increase density, strong

the follicle of it.

3- Provide hair brightness & attractiveness.

4- Protect hair from weather difference

5- moist scalp

6- useful in preventing inflammation that result from fat

secreations.

Henna elcaptain has special pigment materal for hair

Usage:

1-  add suitable amount from package containments as long

density of hair and boiled water.

2-  add small package of you gout to mix, and lemon drops of

fix the color.

3-  put mix for 1 hour.

4-  clean hair& scalp good before use & wash with shampoo and warm water.

5-  elongate henna on hair and let for 4: 5 hour.  

6-  get out henna from hair after dryness then wash with warm.

water then use oil bath of hairolin, cup of you gout to complete 

moist, nourishes operation for hair.

Henna elcaptain for spouse for hands &legs&for hair

Note:

as found three natural colors that  BRAWN, Bay, Black

Wow.  Why didn't I put this in my hair???  Just think, I could've looked like her!

   When my sister-in-law, Teri, heard about the henna, she said "DO NOT PUT THAT IN HILLERY'S HAIR!!!!"  She had researched it and found out that it totally coats the shaft of the hair and never comes off.  Because henna can have some adverse reactions with other hair dyes (which would make your hair break off), you'd have to either use henna again or let your hair grow completely out if you wanted to color your hair again.  She also said to make sure it's FDA approved (I'm pretty sure Henna El Captain is not).  Sometimes they use lead instruments in order to make the henna (yikes).


Well, at least we got some good reading material out of it! :)