Okay, okay

Okay, So it's been a while. Sometimes I think that my life is only exciting during the summer and maybe I'm right. But whatever. I've been home a while now, and it's about time I posted all the things I've been meaning to post. I'm going to try this fast, bullet style.

* Recently after returning from Santa Fe, I joined up with a family from town and Kassie to hike to Coyote Gulch. I've never been, but remember stories from brothers. I don't remember well enough I guess from those memories to have discouraged me from ever going to The Gulch. In retrospect it was a lot of fun. We hiked in and camped near Jacob Hamblin's Arch. It was beautiful. The next day we hiked to Stephen's Arch and back. That was sort of the crappy part. Don't get me wrong. Beautiful scenery, but not really worth some of the death defying rock sliding we had to do in order to see the arch. Also, the 16 miles in one day was a little tough to recover from. In fact (I am absolutely not lying) I got blister/rub marks from my Chaco's and the sand that day and they are still healing. I'm hoping for low scar damage, but we'll see. We hiked out the next morning and Kassie and I spent the next few days limping around and popping the IBs. Pictures are in the slide show.

* Then, school started and my adventures kind of stopped. I am really enjoying my classes this year. Students seem up to the challenge, and my yearbook staff is starting to get the picture of what it is I think they have the potential to create. We'll see though. They usually talk a good game and then whine when work needs to be done. Teenagers . . . :)

* I attended the County Fair the last weekend of August. I love the fair. Two nights of rodeo and one night of smash 'em up derby madness. I had four students (past and present) participate this year. One (who is actually the nephew of the people I live with so I know him pretty well) won$500 for being the most aggressive driver in the Derby. He drove in the mini car heat with a tiny Festiva. He did awesome. I also worked in the concession stand one rodeo night for my old dance company (I actually still clog with them). I haven't done that since high school. As an adult now, I got to help customers at the windows instead of making burgers nonstop for 5 hours. I guess that's one of adulthood's advantages. Pictures will come soon. They are on Kassie's camera.

* I got a new niece. Cody and Kim had a daughter on Sept. 3rd. She looks tiny in photos, and I can't wait to see her in real life. Relief Society duties have kept me in town on the weekends, but I'll be making a trip north this weekend to hold the little one. Oh, her name is Laney Snow Olsen and she resembles her brothers. Photos to come.

* Saturday, I helped run a 15 Stake Fireside here in Gunnison. We are trying to get all the single's ward together a couple times a year, and we decided to take the initiative to get the tradition going. It was a great experience. We've been planning for months and it is finally over. I had to conduct the meeting (nerve racking) but without fail, my old speech persona kicked in and I did a pretty good job. We had Margaret Nadauld and her husband speak to us. Their messages were excellent. Elder Daniel M. Jones of the Seventy was also there. He coached me through the conducting procedures before the meeting and we had a good talk after. Great man. But now that is over, and we have other things to plan. The work is never done I guess.

Mostly I am really busy with school. I'm helping yearbook staffers learn to use our new, awesome camera. It's Homecoming this week so I have pictures to take, assemblies to participate in, parade floats to supervise, and games to watch. I love this week as a spectator, but as a teacher it's pretty hard to keep anyone's attention. I'll report on this events later.

Now that I've accomplished the catch-up post, I'll hopefully update again soon. Until then . . .