Saturday, September 27, 2008
I was in Vegas for a leadership conference for school--and I learned some great things while I was there. But, it also had it's dry moments. My school flew us there and we stayed at Hyatt Place--I had my own king bed and everything all to myself! It was great. But, our conference was on Friday from 8-5, Saturday from 8-5, and Sunday from 9-12. It had good things, but those days were long. So, Kyle Hansen, my principal proposed an idea...
As you can tell, we were actively engaged...
Saturday was breakout session day--meaning there were 4 classes for us to choose from and attend in the morning and then attend in the afternoon. He decided the nine of us should divide and conquer in the morning session, then, we should ditch the rest of the afternoon...we did...
So--we rented a van and headed out to the Hoover Dam. I have never been there before, so this was a new adventure!
The beautiful long van--Kyle's wife Karen went and picked it up for us and she picked us up! We were so lucky she came along on our trip!
We got to the dam area and it was magnificent. I have so many pictures of it that I think I'll have to make a slide show just of my Vegas trip. I'll post my favorites here though.
Did you know a lot of people sacrificed their lives to build that dam? No one knows exactly how many, but it is a tribute to them--the magnificence of it all...To learn more about the Hoover Dam, click here:
Hoover Dam Info
We had some great bonding moments in Vegas--here's a great shot of almost all of the teachers there with us. Paul (from 6th grade) had gone off with his family that afternoon--but all the rest of us got in order by grade:
Mary Tipton (Kindergarten), me (1st grade), Ruth Ann Taylor (2nd grade), Jamie Ault (3rd grade), Jodi White (4th grade), Jenn Hebertson (5th grade), and Barb Yost (our assistant principal--Kyle took our picture...)
Thanks Kyle for the fun day! We needed that break--I think it did more for us than attending those meetings longer than we did!
Tonight, Linda, Henry, Anthony, Tracey, Roque, and I all went to the Asylum 49 in Tooele.
The performers did a great job of making you feel like you were around crazy people. It was fun to watch the others in our group get scared....but for some reason--I mostly just laughed...
My roommate Linda and I decided to go to a concealed weapons class today. The only reason I'm writing about this here, is because the class was free. We went at the encouragement of our friend Chase who thinks knowing these things about guns is very important. I left the class agreeing, but I think I am reluctant to buying a gun for myself... I know that if we are educated about them, it is better than not having the education on them.
But--I'm going to put a plug in for you on the classes. The guy who teaches them, Larry, is great--it was a 5 hour class, but he was entertaining. The classes are at FBMG in Draper and they are free because Larry wants to educate more people on gun use and make sure people in Utah are protecting themselves. He said to make sure all military men, teachers, and students know that the classes are free (for them--he wants guns in schools for protection--he teaches these classes once a month). So--if anyone wants to take advantage of that, it was worth it!
The snow was deep!
My friend Bryant came with me as well--he'd never been to this temple before, so we were having a memory. He was able to get this neat picture of the Angel Moroni.
The Bountiful Temple is definitely one of my favorites! I think all of them are (ask my kids at school--I say the same thing about childrens books and math...they say, "Miss Merritt--everything is your favorite.").
I shared an order with Barb--we ordered Indochine Shrimp and Chicken--a Chinese Indian meal that had some curry spice in it and chicken and shrimp. It was yummy--and perfect for sharing. Then, I ordered dessert--Strawberry Shortcake with ice cream and fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Yum! It was Barb's birthday that weekend, so we celebrated by singing to her over the cake.
The Massive Strawberry Shortcake
