announcement:

1. no we are not having a baby

now that that is out of the way here's our announcemnt....
we're staying in hawaii--for another semester.

For those of you who don't know we were planning on leaving on september 7th.
The English department has just asked Jake and I (yes, me too!) if we can stay on and teach English 101 and 201 (I get 101 and Jake gets 201) for Fall. !!!

I am incredibly nervous and incredibly stoked.

and really bummed because we JUST bought our tickets out....lol. mostly excited though. :)

surprise!

Look at what i got for being a good wife :)

  

it’s the Hagrid’s Hut Lego set. This is my FIRST lego set!

 

Ron is terrified of the spiders!

Hermione :)

Harry

Aragog and Hagrid.

 

 

 

is it totally awesome or what? i’m going to have to say yes :)

a little up-date….

we’ve got some leaving and others coming…

we’re saying good-bye to my two-year-old slippers. they have served me faithfully, but they’re breaking so it’s time to say toot-a-loo.

Can you see where they are breaking? around the toes?

these are the new ones. They’re not girl ones; my old ones were and i liked that about them but there’s nothing really i could do about that. there weren’t any girl ones. :( oh well. i’ll break these in. my feet are in for some blisters lol.

and our new addition to our lego family:

 

 

 

 

 

 

he’s a gnome. :)

 

Jake is loving teaching his class and i am loving writing my blog and doing nothing (well i work, but that’s pretty much it)  i really love not having classes. i know i’ll have to go back eventually but i really enjoy not having class. it’s really quite refreshing :)

balls of fluff and other stuff

here’s a little update on the contor clan:

Jake—after getting a haircut—has lost enough hair to make a small kitten.

a small, curly kitten :)

 

Jake starts teaching his English 201 class on monday. he’s really excited—I am too. (and a little jealous. i would love to try my hand at teaching, but i guess we’ll have to save that for korea.) speaking of which we’ve started the application process; by that i mean we’ve started looking at what’s required to apply. i told my 2 teachers that i asked for letters of recommendation that i didn’t need them until June 20th. I also need to start looking into getting a passport; jake needs to renew his. well, while he’s teaching, i’ll be working and cooking! i’ve already figured out a menu and bought ingredients for the next week’s recipes. Check out my new blog if you want to know what i’m talking about.

it’s pouring outside right now. we’re in the middle of a storm. the lightning doesn’t sound as close as it was during the last big storm, but Jake’s boss called him out to go check on the canoes at PCC to see if they’re flooded/flooding. so, 8:20 am my husband left out in this mess to see if some boats sank. haha. well he’s supposed to push the Jr. Guide(s?) around today. Basically the elementary schools get to come in early before PCC opens and get their own private tour. You know the one good thing about all the rain? it makes my recipe even more fun for today: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies :)

awww….

That’s right. babies. no, i’m not pregnant. but i sure have been thinking about babies a lot. it’s actually really weird, i never really thought that much about kids at all and now—all of the sudden—they seem to be everywhere. i have a bizarro dream about having three kids in three days. i know i don’t want kids and i’m definitely NOT ready to have any (heaven knows i just learned how to tie my shoes….so to speak). we were talking about names; we actually have them picked already. haha. anyway, it’s been weird. i never thought about kids, then….well anyway. i figure i probably ought to make sure i can keep a puppy alive before i try a baby. haha.

if it’s almost Easter, why am i humming Christmas tunes?

First of all check out these awesome photos:
This is Jake, the main explorer of our Adventures in the Cove of the Shark (Shark’s Cove) ;)

Next we have the explorer and his wonderful wife :)

followed by a picture of some lucky guy’s Awesome car. Isn’t that just the best surf car ever?

And now we move on to the most important and possibly life-changing picture of them all:

Barbie in a 90’s Christmas getup.

Tomorrow is Easter, but both Jake and I have been singing and humming Christmas carols. haha. Let’s just say i’m ready for christmas. Jake said Barbie reminded him of someone who would be on one of those Christmasy-Feel-Good commercials. i agree—but i also think she looks really cute with her red sweater and red heels :). i wish i had red heels. of course i probably would never wear them because i have black heels and i think i’ve worn them like twice….maybe.

so i’m multi-tasking right now. i know all those “anti-multi-tasking” experts are going to say it’s impossible, but here’s the thing. i’m writing a journal entry in spanish for my spanish class, but here’s the kicker. i don’t really know that much spanish so i have to think about what i do know. while i’m waiting for inspiration to hit, i’m typing this up, playing Baking Life on Facebook and listening to Stevie Nicks belt out about falling in love. :)

Here’s some news. Jake and I auditioned for Alice in Wonderland and we were cast! :) Jake is going to be the March Hare (he’s been doing character research by watching YouTube videos of hares grooming themselves…lol) and I’m Trey, the 3 of hearts. :) (look at that, i came up with a sentence for spanish)  =)

Lucky once again...

It’s interesting to think that something so beautiful and so calm can kill us all.

Most days the ocean is my friend, my goddess, my savior, my safe place. Sometimes she goes through rough spots; sometimes people die. Who knew something that brings me so much joy could create so much fear. and pain, too?

the ocean has always brought me so much peace. if there was ever a metaphor for the power of God, it’s the ocean.

We’re ok. this time. again. but—like Christy said—let’s hope the third time isn’t the charm.

while we were packing the house up, putting all our books and everything else we wanted to keep dry high up, I commented how i felt like we were pioneer’s, leaving out home and everything in it. i had packed a small bag with a change of clothes, our toothbrushes and a couple stuffed animals i’d be heartbroken to loose (pork chop was in that posse). Jake agreed that it all felt very Lehi-y (he didn’t say “Lehi-y,” he said something more like “Yeah I feel like Lehi). anyway, we’re fine. we’re actually headed back to the school, where i have classes and work scheduled for today. BYU-H called me three times to make sure I got the message that there IS school. Those bums.



I am extremely grateful that Oahu only saw some changes in water level. I’m going to parrot Obama here and say Our hearts and prayers go out to those in Japan. As far as I’ve heard, Maui and Big Island suffered some water damage, but—again, as far as I’ve heard—there were no fatalities.



Keep Japan in your prayers. We will be.