Snow Storm Fun!

We got a ton of snow for Cedar last night, probably 5-6 inches. I know, I know, that doesn't seem like a lot but it really is for here. While Justin and I were shoveling the drive way we brought the dogs out to play in the snow. Since no one is really driving today (heaven forbid we pull a snow plow out on a Sunday) we let the dogs run up and down the streets. Buffy can't run too fast in the high snow so we didn't worry about her running away. Manny just kind of sat there because well he's Manny. Although he was more adventurous this time around. Probably because we haven't trimmed him in months and his hair is super long at the moment.

I love Manny's face! He isn't too happy to be outside!

Thanks for shoveling Justin!

Buffy kept running around the car!

There she goes!

Add caption

Random update!

I realized the last time I posted was just before school started... in August, and it's now February. Man either I suck at life, we've been super busy, or nothing exciting has happened in our life. I'm going to go with the second and third choice.

Justin's home business (is that what you would call it) has really taken off this year. He is currently working for three inspection companies that keep him very busy. He seems to be the only person willing to travel to do inspections so he ends up getting a lot for Ely, NV and the Mesquite area as well. Oh well, lazy peoples loss is our gain. He works Monday-Friday doing inspections with the random day thrown in to work at the hospital. Justin loves to come home and show me pictures of all the crazy things he's seen on his adventure out. If he does inspections on Saturday, I do go with him so I can spend some time with him. He spends a lot of time at home doing paperwork, which is really nice because it allows him to work at his own pace with in reason. There are still due dates he has to keep :)

I've just been working at school and trying to keep myself sane during the week! We are week one into our fundraiser at school and we are selling the World's Finest chocolate bars. Well... I'm not, the kids are and they are doing an amazing job! It's only been a week and we ran out of boxes for the kids to sell. Don't worry, we have more coming on Tuesday. But that isn't soon enough! We already have a waiting list of kids who need boxes! Keep selling kids... our program really needs the money :)
My day pretty much consists of getting to school, counting money and handing our receipts to students, teaching a couple classes, then during lunch I'm counting money and turning it into our business manager at school. Most days I feel like a drug dealer counter out five hundred 1 dollar bills.  Some one paid a student with an old $5 bill and the student brought it to me and said that this was the weirdest bill they had ever seen. I giggled to myself and explained what it was and how money had change in the past five years. Man these kids make me feel old. I have never seen kids fight over the chance to look at a dollar coin or a $2 bill before.

Rough guess, we've made about $1000 in profit and it's only been a week. We are doing the fund raiser for two more weeks and one of those weeks we are out of school for.  If we can sell all 200 boxes then we have a profit of $6000. Wishful thinking but it would be awesome if it could happen. We are aiming for a goal of $4000. If it happens, awesome! If not we will work with whatever we get :)

My co-worker and I want to spend the money we make on uniforms for the students. We have found that the students behave better and preform better when they are all dressed the same. Before this we've been doing a man's white button down shirt and a black tie for the boys. When ever we go to festivals they always mark us down and complain that they look tacky and we should have them tailored to fit the students...... Uhhhh.... Hello! This is a middle school! And they're men's shirts! Do you think they are going to fit everyone perfectly! Apparently these judges do! We are looking at getting these dresses for the girls.

                                       
I'm pretty much in love with the dress and I'm more in love with the price. $39.95! Booya!! Simple but pretty. Plus it has the stretch top and bottom and will fit more girls, especially because I do work in a middle school setting and we have students through all stages of puberty.

Boys we are ordering a black dress pant that has elastic in the waist so it will fit more students and can be used year after year. We already have the shirts and a handful of black ties. We would only have to order a few more to meet our needs.

And when I crunched the numbers it was only $2475 with shipping for 50 dresses and 20 pants! Booya!
Little excited.. Can't you tell :)

Other than that we just love our life one crazy day at a time! :)

  

Cedar Breaks & Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

Justin has been pretty busy with his inspection company!  He has recently finished training and started doing inspections with a third company. It isn't any extra days out in the field, it just adds more stops on his trip and makes those trips more profitable. So, instead of doing 10-15 inspections per trip, he's doing 30+ inspections. It also equates to multiple pay checks through out the month (Evil Laugh) which is always great. It is a great supplement to my salary and his hospital pay checks.

On Tuesday, Justin needed to go up to Parowan and Brian Head to do a few inspections and figured we could take Justin's parents to see the Cedar Breaks and the Parowan Petroglyphs (which we've been wanting to see anyway)

Cedar Breaks is always beautiful, especially with snow. It was nice to see it in the fall verses the spring. Less snow!! When you look out over the breaks it's so beautiful because there are so many contrasting scenery to look at. There are the red rocks of the mountains, lava rocks, and even an evergreen forest.

Have to get the picture with everything behind you! 

It was only a 30 min drive from Cedar Breaks to the Parowan Gap, so of course we had to go there. 

This is from the Scenic Southern Utah website and I think they tell the story a lot better than I could. 

You approach the petroglyphs at Parowan Gap along an ancient trail. In prehistoric times the gap was used by peoples living in the Parowan Valley as a convenient passage through the Red Hills. Yearly migrations passed here on their way west to harvest desert resources. Thus from its earliest time the Gap became a seasonal passage that eventually evolved into a calendar itself.

In 1850 the Parley Pratt expedition explored this area for new settlements. When they got to where Parowan is today they made camp for the winter and while exploring the surrounding territory discovered the petroglyphs at Parowan Gap. Recorded in a pioneer journal of this expedition are several recognizable drawings of petroglyphs that can be seen today. The pioneer explorers believed that this was the place that Chief Walder told them was "God's Own House". Even today to walk through the narrows gives the visitor the feeling of reverential awe. The huge pillars on the north and south jut upward into the vast expanse of the sky bringing the blue of the heavens down into the bowels of the earth while the pillars connect the earth to the limitless heavens.

What was the meaning of these inscriptions and why are there so many at this location? Some believe that these glyphs are meaningless doodling. But a little observation tells us that this must be far beyond graffiti. As one Indian told the author, "a person doesn't work for hours and days deeply inscribing figures in solid rock just to doodle." Many glyphs here are deeply incised in the rock face, planned with geometric precision, and inscribed with great skill.

Counts are frequently contained within a glyph by repeated elements. This is probably the most prevalent characteristic of the inscriptions at the Parowan Gap. At other glyphic sites most figures have human or animal forms. However the typical glyph here is a geometric form with some repetitive element incorporated. In some glyphs there is no real figure at all, only the repetition of dots or lines. These indicate number where one mark on the rock represents one of something else: a day, a month, or a year. When these marks are counted they tell of a very observant and insightful people.

Who were these people and why did they create these inscriptions? Archaeological research in the Parowan Valley and surrounding areas has defined a local variant of the Fremont Peoples now called the Parowan Fremont. These people lived in numerous settlement villages up and down Parowan Valley. Their habitations were of many small villages scattered over a fertile valley between the high mountains on the east and the low lying Red Hills on the west. Just to the south and west of the Red Hills was a large marshy area and lake now mostly dry. From the valley land they planted and harvested Indian corn. In the marsh they hunted small animals and water fowl, in the high mountains to the east, they hunted mule deer. And from the desert to the west they harvested pine nuts. Not a bad existence all in all and from this their subsistence was plentiful enough that they found time to contemplate their universe, practice religious ritual and discover the counts that make up celestial cycles. Oh, how they were fascinated with numbers and dates very much like the Meso-American civilizations to the south.

The Gap really is breath taking and awe inspiring! As you walk along both sides of the gap there are hundreds of these carvings in the red rock. It really is beautiful and definatly worth the trip and time out to see them. It kind of is like a "where's waldo" trying to find all of the carvings in the rocks that have faded over time. Some of them you can walk up to see and touch. Most are behind a fence to protect them. 

 These are just 4 pictures, there are hundreds more that we have! 

Today I leave you with a picture of Manny being a cutie!

Grand Canyon Trip

Yay! It's finally fall break! School is insane at the moment and I'm grateful to have this week long break away from everything. I have to get my grades done and put a song in to Finale for my beginning band.  Justin and I left Friday afternoon after work to head to Flagstaff, AZ so we could meet up with Justin's family to visit the Grand Canyon. It had been raining for a day before we left and it was continuing to rain as we left, we didn't think anything of it. Then I remembered that we were going to be traveling through the mountains. Once we hit 8000 ft it started to snow. Boo!

 

Thank goodness it wasn't for long and it wasn't quite cold enough for the road or the ground to freeze so nothing stuck to the road. 

We pulled into Flagstaff around 8pm and spent the night in a hotel and caught up with Justin's family. We had a late late dinner at Denny's (because I was craving pancakes.... Bad!) 

We got to the park around lunch time and had a picnic before we walked through the park. We entered through the south rim and grabbed a whole bunch of pictures at the first look. 

 Thanks Justin for the amazing picture.

 It was pretty bright.. hence the amazing picture of us.

 After we took all of our pictures at the first look we took the shuttle on the western side of the canyon. The guide said that this was the side where the California condors nest and it was the best place to see it. 

 There were still left over from the orphan mine. It was a uranium mine and if I remember correctly, the project only lasted a few years but took 13 years to clean it up.

We stayed for half a day then Justin and I drove back up North to Page, AZ to spend the night. We wanted to try to go half way home.

 Love it!

I have a lot of favorite things about living in the desert and I've mentioned a few of them. Another one of my favorites are the sun rises and sets. 

This is on the way over the mountains into Page. I love the reds, oranges, and purples. 

We also had a very pretty sunrise in Page. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was the same orange, red, and purples we saw the night before.

And yes there was still snow on the way home -_-

 

 We were ready to go home. Justin wanted to do a duck face picture. Ta-Da!

 

There it is... a few pictures from our quick weekend trip!