Spring! Finally! The semester is almost over, and Mike and I couldn't be happier about it. In celebration, I'm posting lots of pictures and videos.
First, let's get the updates out of the way. School is going well for me. I was supposedly offered a choral scholarship, but I haven't seen any confirmation on it yet. I wasn't counting on a scholarship, so if I get one, it'll be a nice bonus. Either way, the director of music education says she thinks I'm doctoral material. That's encouraging! She recommends that I get my Bachelors ASAP, then take a few years off to get some teaching experience before getting my Masters and Doctorate in quick succession. She says she thinks I have the natural intuition to be a great educator. Realistically, it might be a long time before I get my Masters, but it's nice to have a clear goal and the support of a teacher I admire a great deal.
Mike is considering another change in his major, but he's unsure right now. He's considering everything from meteorology to business, but he might just stick it out as a nuke engineer. I worry that he's too concerned with getting done quickly and making money than with finding something he's good at and that he enjoys. I worry that if he picks a career based on salary, he'll be miserable at work, and all that time and money spent on his education will mean nothing. As it is, he's doing well as a nuclear engineer. Maybe all he needs is to remember what got him excited about it in the first place. It's easy to forget what you love when you're burnt out.
Hyrum continues to do very well in school. His teachers are impressed with his reading and say he finished the kindergarten curriculum a while ago. They're making up new lessons for him to check his reading comprehension. My mom gave him a 196 page Curious George chapter book for Easter which he can read all the way through with no help. He's also top in math. He loves to quiz us on addition at home. His teachers also say his penmanship is excellent. Looks a little funky to me, so I'll just take their word for it. Hyrum's speech is improving steadily since we started him at the speech and language clinic in Idaho Falls. It looks like he'll be in pretty good shape when he starts first grade this fall.
Emily is like bottled sunshine. She's such a cheerful little girl. It always comes as quite a shock when she her mood suddenly takes a drastic turn to throwing tantrums. I guess that's a typical 3 year old girl thing. For the most part, she loves to sing, dance, make up stories, pretend to be a cat, play dress-up, and all those other things that make her so much fun to be around. She's very smart. Hyrum must be teaching her because I don't know how she already knows all her letters and letter sounds. She can also read common words that she sees often like Emily, Hyrum, Mom, Dad, and cat. Mike and I want to look into the possibility of getting her into a preschool this year.
Alright! Picture time!
Instead of Easter baskets, the kids got trays and bowls of candy. Emily got hair accessories and Strawberry Shortcake dress-up doll. Hyrum got slime and a Frisbee.
Last weekend, we took the kids to Spring Scrimmage at BSU. Before the game, they let the kids play on the field and meet the coach and players. Sadly, we took the scenic route through Arco and Craters of the Moon, so we got there as they were ushering everyone off the field. The kids still got to run out onto the field and play for a short time before a security officer tapped me on the shoulder and told us we had to go. I did manage to get a video and a few pictures. :)
Go Orange! Go Big Blue! Fight! Fight! BSU!
Some of Mike's friends from OBNUG.com (a BSU fan site) saved us seats to watch the game. The kids weren't as interested as they usually are in a real game, but they had fun posing for the camera anyhow.
We decided to take the long way back to Shelley again so we could drive through Craters of the Moon and hopefully hike the lava tunnels and the ice caves. We told the kids that it was created by several volcanoes thousands of years ago. Emily was really excited to see a volcano, and made up a cute story during the long car ride. Sorry, for some reason, the sound quality is low on this video. I plan to edit this video and upload it again. Until then, you may have to turn up your speakers.
When we got there, we learned that the lava tunnels and ice caves don't open for the year until May. We decided to take the kids on a short hike (if you can call it that) to the top of a spatter cone. Emily, who had been so excited, suddenly got scared and made Mike carry her to the top. I'm including lots of pictures for Dave's sake. You'd better be reading this, Dave! Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about any of these rocks too.
This is the vent in a spatter cone. Spatter cones are like mini volcanoes and are formed after the magma becomes cooler and spatters out of vents in larger chunks. The cones are more jagged than smoother cinder cones.
This is the view of the lava flow from the top of the spatter cone. It's just black lava rock for as far as you can see.
The family (minus me) at the top of the cone. Emily still wouldn't let Mike put her down.
This is a cinder cone. These are formed from the cinders which are expelled when the magma is still very hot. The rocks are fine--about the size of gravel. Cinder cones are formed before spatter cones. There are several of both types at Craters of the Moon. This one looks much more impressive in person than in the picture.
Just a typical view of the lava beds and cinder cones.
And another one.
Lava beds are pretty common in East Idaho. In fact, we drive through one nearly every day on the way to school in Pocatello, so it's a little hard to get excited about seeing more lava rock desert. Still, when you step outside the everyday and realize the amazing forces at work on our planet, it'll take your breath away.
Well, that's all for now. Back to studying for finals!
