Skip to main content

Yearly Visit to Utah

I prepare adjunct faculty and staff developers from five school districts to teach ESL endorsement courses at BYU. I have done this since 2006. When I went to graduate school I decided that I would try to keep coming back to BYU to do this so that I could be sure and get to Utah at least once a year. Last year we missed the plane and had trouble getting the rental car, but this year the trip was a lot smoother. Hannah was very good on the plane. She is too big to fly in a car seat though. Next trip we are going to let her sit in a regular seat. While on the plane she ate snacks and played with my iPad and read the in flight literature. Eventually she just sat back and took a nap.



Hannah helped pack her own suitcase this year. She even schlepped it though the airport on her own, for the most part. She is good at going up the escalators, but getting on the moving walkway made her more than a little nervous. It took two or three times to dispel her anxiety. Now she is a pro.



When we got to Utah we found our rental car and then went to dinner. After that we went to stay with my brother-in-law John. There was a big rainstorm with cold rain. In Kansas the rain this time of year is warm. The next day the sun was out. It was nice to be out of the humidity. John has a bedroom with a hideaway and both Hannah and I were able to perch in it for a bit. My hair is all wet because I was running outside when the storm hit. I let my hair dry a bit so I could get the elastic out of my hair without cutting it.


Here is the inside of the hideaway cupboard.



Here I am on the first day of training. Thought I would document my 9th year of work with the program.



While we were here, I went to visit a former student and read Beowulf to his little boy. The family fed me wonderful pancakes, eggs with just the right amount of pepper, and hash browns with melted cheese. It was such great food. Speaking of eating, I was also treated to lunch by my former master's thesis adviser and a colleague from my master's cohort. I had no shortage of victuals. Brian and Hannah went to Wienerschnitzel for lunch one day. They go whenever we go to Utah. I call it a daddy-daughter dog date.



Hannah also got to play with a lot of cousins and children of old friends. On Friday though she had a fever and so that slowed us all down a bit. She was still ill on Saturday when we flew home so she mostly slept during the flight. We arrived at our house in Lawrence at 2 a.m. on Sunday. I got up early to teach Sunday School and then I came home and made lunch for Brian and Hannah who were up by then. After doing the post-travel cleaning, unpacking, and putting away I worked on a manuscript for a book chapter that was due on Monday. My co-authors and I made the deadline.

So that is our trip to Utah for the year.


Comments

I love reading your blogs! Hannah grows too fast! I bet it is awesome to watch her grow! I bet it was fun to have her pack her suitcase and watch her haul it thru the airport! LOL! How cute and fun to watch our children as they grow! Fun times continue ahead for you!

Popular posts from this blog

The Year-Long January

The joke is that January is the longest month of the year. I thought it went quickly. Classes started and winter cold set in. We went to the eye doctor and Hannah waited for the doctor so long, she grew a beard.  Ultimately she decided on glasses that would make her look like Supergirl. I think she really pulled it off. All month I was on pins and needles about the government shutdown trying to decide if it was safe to fly to a conference. Luckily for me, the poor TSA workers and federal folks were able to get back to work. However, the planes I took (4 in all) were mostly empty and I got a row to myself. There was also a polar vortex that didn't help air travel looks appealing. I got there late at night and the room they had left was a large hotel suite. I took it. My colleague Michael Dunn and I divided our presentation up. We both did well. I also found a few good folks from Kansas. Then, I left Indy. When I wasn't worki...

Wrapping up the Year (and Decade)

Christmas was nice. The weather was good and I was able to run like I usually do. I served a Thanksgiving Dinner because I spent Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania with my sister. It has been a busy decade. I only have two years where something major didn't happen. On to 2020. My list of Big stuff for the last decade. 2010—Finished Master’s degree 2011—Published Master’s degree as book 2011—Daughter born 2012—Book won award 2013—Moved to KS for PhD program (January) 2014— 2015—Published second book 2016—Finished PhD program (August) 2017—Moved to Albuquerque for faculty position 2018— 2019—Submitted mid-probationary dossier

Bygone April

 We decorated for Easter in April. Low key, but cute. Hannah helped make some of them. She even did this painting of the eggs.   And the ceramic ornament in the little house. After Easter I went to Toronto for AERA.   After AERA Easter came. We went to the annual Easter egg hunt.  And colored our own eggs.  And went to church. At the end of the month, we visited my parents in Utah, traveling by plane. It was sunny one of the days and cloudy and rainy the rest, but the visit was nice.  And that was April.