A whirlwind of a week

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday! That pretty much sums it up. This week has been hectic. Tuesday went great and though the day was long and exhausting, everything went as planned...except that I lost my voice. So, the last 2 days have been a bit rough trying to teach without much of a voice.
Many throat lozenges later, the actual reality of going back to work full time, especially in the teaching profession, finally sank in and I felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of educating crazy 6th graders. It's not just 8-3, but many hours of planning, researching, and oh yeah...actually re-learning the material myself so I can teach it and feel competent in doing so. Plus, getting up at 6am is a huge bummer.
I am greatly looking forward to this weekend as Mom and Dad Olson, Derek, Amy, and the kiddos come over on Saturday to BBQ. Mom and Dad Hansen as well as my Uncle Scott will be here on Monday to celebrate my Mom's birthday.

Back to School

I have been frantically preparing for the first day of school (tomorrow 8/29). My classroom is put together and my lesson plans are ready to go so now all I have to do is teach. I have been suprisingly calm the last 3 or 4 days and actually feel excited about tomorrow, which is totally a God thing. I have not had a single nightmare about the first day, very surprising considering I was plagued with them before the start of the year at Monte Vista.
It will be a very long day as Back to School Night is also scheduled for tomorrow at 6:30pm. I will need lots of coffee!

Some pics from the past few weeks

Back to Bloggin'

Well, we have been off-line for a few weeks so now that we are settled in our new place and have Internet access again, we are back in business! We have settled in San Jose in a great 3 bedroom, 2 bath house. The house is about a mile from Jaron's work and a 1/2 mile from Avery's preschool. My commute is not too bad...only 20 minutes! We live in a great neighborhood and the house had everything we wanted so we are very happy.
I am one week into my new job and so far so good. It has just been meetings and working on curriculum, but I am starting to get familiar with the school and am anticipating the start of the school year. I got a brand new laptop too (a macbook) so that is a great plus! I found out that along with science and math I will also be teaching one period of Bible and one period of Art. AHHH! Luckily, the other 6th grade teacher is sharing her lesson plans with me for Bible and Art.
Avery is happily settled into her preschool. She really loves the outdoor area and as soon as she gets there, wants to go on the rocking horse or the swings. The teachers have said she has had great days and has been very happy. She told me on Friday that she did not want to go home. No Home!, she said. :)

"More Cookies, Please!"

Avery and I decided to make cookies for the first time today. Chocolate chip was the cookie of choice. :)

Avery had a fun time for about 5 minutes until she lost interest. She did appear again when it was time to scoop the batter onto the cookie sheet!

We all enjoyed the final product. Yummy!

In search of a home

For the last week or so we have been trying to find a home rental. At this point we are being a little picky, wanting 3 bedrooms and a couple of other fun extras. We have seen a few things, but not "the one". We would really love to be in a place by the 13th since I start my new job on the 14th!
I have also been in search of a daycare facility for Avery Lynn. I think I have found a place...My Preschool in Saratoga, but I am still trying to find a Christian Preschool/Daycare. I was a little shocked by the tuition rates (between $1200-1300 per month!). Pray I make a good decision, as it is already hard enough to know I have to leave her at all.
The weather has finally cooled down to the mid-80's. We headed down to Monterey for lunch on Sunday, which was very fun... it was only 65 degrees there! Avery loved the sea lions. She kept saying "lions" "water"! She amazes me more everyday with the things she says and does. She has been putting words together and telling us all what to do. Daddy couch! Grandpa water! She really loved the kiddie pool Grandma bought for her and she absolutely loved when Grandpa would take her in the water. Lately, one of her favorite things is going outside with Grandpa and collecting flowers.
This weekend we will head up to Pittsburg to visit with Grams and Papa. We are all excited to see them, it has been a long time...since the end of April!

Fun Times

On Sunday, we all headed over to Scotts Valley for a fun visit with the fam. Kaylin and Avery were hilarious! I loved watching them wrestle and giggle. Avery wanted to copy everything Kaylin did. It has been great to see them loving each other up!

Fun with my cousins

Today, Avery and I headed out for a long awaited visit to Derek and Amy's in Scotts Valley. Avery and Kaylin were finally able to play and they had a great time! It was so much fun to watch them interact. We were able to go to the Mission Springs pool, which was a great escape from the hot weather (95+ degrees in Gilroy!).
The whole family will head out to visit again on Sunday. Yahoo!

New Job For Jenni

I recently had two different phone interviews with Milpitas Christian School. I interviewed for a 6th grade science/math position. Today I received word that I got the job! I am meeting with the Middle School principal tomorrow to discuss details. Praise God!

Back to sewing

I recently took my sewing machine in for service and am back to sewing again. I got a new pattern and tried it out for a friend of mine. It was really easy and it came out great if i do say so myself! I altered it a little bit by putting in 4 pockets so it makes a great everyday bag. Check it out!

Well we packed most of our stuff in a POD, and the rest in a Budget truck and headed north. We are staying in Gilroy with the Hansens for now. We will look for a rental in San Jose when we know we are out of our lease for the place in Simi Valley.
I'm starting my new job tomorrow, and Jenni is waiting to hear back about a teaching position she interviewed for. I already miss all the L.A. smog.

Fun, Friends, and Fireworks

So to celebrate the 4th of July, we went down to Cypress to meet up with our friends Mike and Zariq. We hung out and had a BBQ then we headed off to the Navy Golf Course for a fireworks show. Great times were had by all!

Family shot at Arlington



Here's Jaron and George W.




Here's Avery at Mount Vernon

Fun in D.C.

We are back from a great trip to Washington D.C. We left last Saturday and returned on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, the first thing we did was head out to dinner. We were in Pentagon City and walking toward the mall when it started to rain...not just sprinkle, but rain! We were soaked by the time we reached the doors. On Sunday we decided to walk the National mall and see all the sights. We walked about 7 miles I think! After walking to the White House while on the way to the Washington Monument, we were soaked again...a total downpour (see picture!). There was no place to go and get dry so we just kept on walking!
It rained again on Monday and Tuesday. Because of all the rain, alot of the museums were closed.
Among the sights we saw are Arlington Cemetary, the National Zoo, Mt. Vernon, the WW2 Memorial, the Korean War memorial, and the Lincoln memorial.


It was great to see Tom and Kari and to finally visit Silver Spring, Maryland (the city where they live). We went to a lot of great restaurants and enjoyed a great time with my parents as well.

Moving to San Jose

Jaron has accepted the position at Harker so we are going to be moving back up North! Jaron will start on July 17th so we will be leaving Simi on Friday the 14th. We will be staying with my parents in Gilroy until we find a place, preferably near the school. I will be looking for a full time teaching job again and have a few leads so hopefully it will not take long to find something great. We will be searching for a daycare facility for Avery so pray that we find a great one like Rocky Peak.

Happy Fathers Day!

Today we are celebrating Jaron's second Father's Day! We are just relaxing around the house and will head out for a bite to eat later tonight.
It has been super hot here in Simi Valley and we are trying to stay cool in the air conditioned house.
Jaron, Avery, and I are getting ready to leave for Washington D.C. next Saturday. We will meet up with my parents in Dallas and take the same flight out to D.C. I am excited to finally see Kari and Tom's place since we have never been out there to visit. Jaron has never been to D.C. and I went only once when I was in 8th grade so it should be fun to see all the sights.

Happy Father's Day!

School Visit

I flew up to San Jose today to visit The Harker School. I had a phone interview last week, and today was a follow up visit. They offered me a full time position as Athletic Trainer / Strength and Conditioning Coach. They made me a good offer, one that would be hard to refuse. I was impressed with the school as a whole, it is a HIGHLY academic school that is looking to bring athletics up to par with some of their other programs. We'll keep you posted on our plans.
- Jaron

I'm A Big Girl Now!

Avery Lynn has now been sleeping in a big girl bed for 3 nights. She loves it! I decided it was time because she is used to sleeping on a cot at school and sometimes for naps we would just take her mattress out of her crib and place it on the floor.
When we were finished taking off the one side, she kept saying "bed!" and climbing up on it to lay down and when I put her to bed the first night she just kept smiling. Even throughout the day she will run in her room and play on her bed.
I guess she is no longer our little baby :)

Baja 500

I got back Sunday from Baja. Went to spectate the race (Baja 500). It was a fun trip despite some problems with my truck. EARLY on Friday my friend Kent and I left his place and headed to San Diego to meet up with some friends, and drove down to Ensenada. We walked through contingency to check out some of the race cars in line for their technical inspection, that's always a good time. After eating some tacos and tortas at Mk Taco, we headed out for Mike's Sky Ranch (a famous hangout for baja racers/spectator up on a tough section of the race course at about 4,000 ft. elevation). On the way to Mike's we had a tire blow out, and put on the spare. In the next town (Valle De Trinidad) we picked up another "just in case" spare at the llanteria. Then we hit the dirt road to Mike's Sky Ranch, which is about 20 miles long. After about 15 miles the transmission started acting up...my truck just wasn't having a good day. I ended up losing second gear, and transmission is making unhealthy noises but it made it all the way home. Believe it or not, it was hot in the baja desert in June, but we stayed cool in the shade and camped next to the creek. The race course runs right through the area where we camped and crosses the creek. That made for some comfortable conditions to spectate...we just stuck our chairs right in the creek and got splashed by the race cars that didn't slow down through the water crossing. First motorcycles went by at 10am saturday, and last cars straggled through past midnight. We woke up Sunday for the long drive home, stopping in Ensenada for some Al Pastor tacos (marinated pork cut off of the rotisserie). Overall a great weekend. To see more of my pics you can click here to look at my PHOTO GALLERY .

Here to stay...for now

Jaron heard back from AWC and they offerred the job to another candidate. He has some other applications floating around and will continue to search for a full time position for the fall. In the meantime, we will continue to plug away here in Simi Valley. Thanks for all your prayers!