Yes, I am alive!!

I have been meaning to update my blog for weeks. School is in full swing and so is the volleyball season. My schedule is get up at 5:30 a.m. to leave my house by 6:45 a.m. I arrive at school at 7:00 a.m. I teach until 2:30 p.m. I have volleyball practice from 2:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. and then I get my own workout in. So I'm leaving the school around 7:00 p.m. Then it's home to lesson plan for the next day and to bed. That is about it. Doesn't that sound fun and exciting :) I do have a 3 day weekend with Labor Day so hopefully I will be able to get some pictures uploaded soon. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive!!

Desert Ridge Day 2

I survived day two of orientation BARELY!! We had to sit through 8 hours of meetings. It always intrigues me that we are taught as educators to get our students up moving around, engage them in the learning process and to not lecture BUT at education meetings like today we sat in an auditorium ALL DAY listening to people lecture us on the various programs and policies of the district. It was an absolute bore.....what a great examples of good educational techniques! Although on a positive note, I do love how the district supports and honors its teachers. They welcomed us and thank us numerous times today for choosing their district. It is a very positive and motivational place to work :) I'm really looking forward to getting started.
As for the "to be continued" portion from yesterday.....did I say NO to coaching.......for all of those who know me of course I didn't. I went in to the meeting with Coach Melfy (volleyball coach) with the determination that I was only coaching if I was assistant varsity. That way I'm just helping and not trying to run my own team. It's still time consuming but not so much is on my shoulders alone. It went so well that I am the assistant varsity volleyball coach and the assistant varsity basketball coach!! There are definite pros and cons to coaching......
Pros: Being called Coach Spence again, jumping into a new school with both feet and getting involved, meeting new people, working with great kids, new found motivation to work out so I don't embarrass myself with how out of shape I am, feeling needed and part of something, busy
Cons: Extraordinarily busy, keeping my priorities straight to make sure I put spiritual things first, not letting coaching/teaching consume my life, lack of a social life
Although there are less cons, they are pretty significant. I just hope that being conscious about putting first things first will help me be more successful. I know if I put God first I will find the time and energy to accomplish all the rest!!

My First Official Day at Desert Ridge

It has been an overwhelming day to say the least! Today was the first day of orientation to the Gilbert School District. It is a great district and I have been absolutely impressed with how the district is run. Today we found out some of the logistics of what is required. I have to complete 7 1/2 hours of new teacher training that has to be completed in 12 months and an additional 12 1/2 hours within 18 months. That is the district requirements so that does not include all the things that I have to do for the State. I have to complete 60 hours of SEI training (Second language learners) within the year. I also have to complete two exams within the year! Can I say OVERLOAD?? At this point I'm wondering......what exactly does my Master's Degree mean???
I have also been hit up about coaching volleyball, basketball and softball. I'm really interested in coaching so my first instinct is to make my life as busy as possible. I'm happier when I'm busy but I also know how totally consumed my life can become with teaching and coaching. My social life (or potential social life) will become nonexistant as I spend all my time at school and working. Right now that sounds great but that's not going to give me a balanced life.......what to do......what to do.........Will I be able to say NO is the other question......to be continued.......

My Arizona Initiation

Yep! I was on my way to the DMV to become an official Arizonian (is that a word??) and I got crunched by a Jeep Wrangler. The damage was minimal so I didn't call the cops because I felt bad for the kid that hit me. He had just graduated from high school and you all know what a soft spot I have for teenagers!! He was really nice and apologized for hitting me. I hope it all works out okay. I had to go and get an estimate for the damage which was about $700.00 for a new bumper. The guy that did my estimate made it VERY clear that he thought I was attractive.......he said, "I think you're attractive!" Hehe.....I was blushing then and just as I am now writing about it. It was quite flattering and definitely boosted my ego. Sometimes it's just nice to hear it! Even with the delay if you check out the second picture, you will be able to see that I still made it to the DMV so I have progress from Idahoan..... to Utahan......to Nevadan........to Arizonaian!

Finally......the rest of my apartment!!

I've had my apartment put together for awhile but then I messed it up again before I could take pictures of the rest of the rooms :) So Charity here you go.....I know you've been the one waiting to see my place!


This is my bedroom. It pretty much looks the same as my old place. When you have the same decorations it doesn't tend to be much different. However my bed is actually made in this picture so be impressed!! It's rare :)

This is looking the other way in my room. Behind the mirror is my HUGE walk in closet. I don't even fill it up......I guess it's time to shop!

This is my front room. The table in front of the door is not going to always be there. That's just all my scrapbook stuff. I've actually had so much time on my hands, I've been scrapbooking. I've got about 16 pages done. That's a HUGE accomplishment because of my perfectionism that makes me take FOREVER on one page. A scrapbooking entry will be coming soon :)

This is suppose to be my dining room but since I don't have a table it is now my office. This is where I spend A LOT of time. As you can tell it's the most lived in room in my apartment! I really like it!
Well that's it.....now you've seen my whole apartment!! What do you think??

My Ward Family

I'm so grateful for my ward family! It is such a comfort to know when you move to a new place especially when you don't know anyone that you will have automatic friends in the church. I was able to go to a Relief Society "get to know you" activity last week (which was the highlight of my week by the way) and met some wonderful sisters. I'm especially grateful for sisters that have really gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. One of those sisters is Karyn. She invited me over so swim at their pool on Friday with her family. The picture is of their fun pool. I didn't get a picture until after the water was turned off but there is usually water running down the slide and off the ledge. It's a great pool! The Mangisi's have 7 great kids. Brother Mangisi is Tongan so I'm also very grateful for that island connection that I love so much :) The Mangisi's also invited me over for a night of great food and games. I feel so welcome with their family and their friendship has been such a blessing.

Passion or the Lack of......

I've been thinking a lot in the past couple of weeks (that's what happens when I have too much free time!) As I have read blogs of various friends , I have realized the lack of passion in my life. They each seem to have things in their life that drives them forward. That they are truly passionate about. I looked up the definition of passion.........Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for anything and often requiring action. Passion often applies to lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love. I just really want to find that enthusiasm for something in my life. I have had it many times throughout my life for different things.....sports, missionary work, education, Polynesian culture and of course love. I just seem to be missing that passion today. I still love each of things I listed but the passion is just either gone, not as strong or no longer creating that intense emotion. I'm not sure why things have changed. I guess I have changed and with change comes a new outlook. I don't want to come across as having a negative outlook because that's not what this is about. I'm just looking for something that I can really focus my interest and that can compell me to action. I want to find that excitement, that enthusiasm and that driving interest.......that PASSION!!

My 4th of July at Lake Pleasant

This is Lake Pleasant. The storm started moving in as we were leaving. We were loading the boat just as the rain hit. I wish I could of caught some of the lightening that was starting. It was beautiful.

This is Angie (my greenie and last companion in the mission) and her nephew Brigham.

This is some more of the family. Chad and Mary (Angie's brother and sister in law) have 8 fabulous kids and one on the way! It was so fun to be around them. Andrea is the oldest but she stayed home. It was a test to see if I could remember all of their names so here it goes.......Brigham, Payton, Teancum, Jarom, Kayden, Talmage and Burleigh. Ali (Angie's little sister) was also with us. They are all little fish. They love the water!

This is Jarom and I. This tube was so hard to hold on to. My arms still hurt. It takes a lot more upper body strength when you are bigger!! Jarom was my little instructor. He would tell me when to lean back so we didn't crash. Too bad I was not a very good listener. I made us crash a few times!!

This was such a sweet picture of Mary and little Burley sitting on the shore watching the other kids on the boat and in the water.

This is a picture of Angie (aka Sister Davis) and I. I wasn't going to include this picture because I look so awful BUT then I decided that I need to keep seeing these kind of pictures so I will have more motivation to do something about it!! Let's hope it works. Overall is was a really fun day. It's amazing how serving a mission is still blessing my life years later. It was so fun to spend time with an old companion and to be blessed by her family in a time of new beginnings for me. I have been feeling pretty lonely so it was nice to get out and meet new people. Thanks Angie!!

2 Rooms down........

I am having a hard time staying motivated to unpack. During the day I'm so SLOW and then I decide at 8 or 9 p.m. to actually get a lot done. I'm already getting my days and nights mixed up which isn't necessarily a good thing since I have to report to work at the end of July. I finished my bathroom on Saturday and it took me until Monday to finish the kitchen. I even went grocery shopping. Mom, aren't you so proud of me!! That was the worst task of the day! Here are some pictures of the two finished rooms at my cute new place!

This is looking into the kitchen from the doorway.

This is the other half of my kitchen! It has tons of counter and cupboard space! I love it!

This the bathroom from my room and the counter. The bathroom is big too!

This is the bathroom from the hallway door!

Crystal Shores Ward

Even though I woke up late due to complete exhaustion, I made it to my new ward. My favorite thing about Arizona so far is how friendly people are. I've already met a couple of my neighbors and felt very welcomed into the ward. Becky found me in the hall and had me sit with her through the meetings. She introduced me to the Bishop and to many other people in the ward. It's a little scary to go places ALONE so I was greatful for her! Although the average age of the ward seemed to be 50, I'm looking forward to getting to know more people in the Crystal Shores Ward!!

Thank Goodness for GPS

My sister and I decided that we were going to start blogging. I decided that it would be a good thing for me do when I moved to Arizona. Well now I'm here and I'm already behind. The weekend has been a whirlwind. My family (Luke, Dusti, Mom and Dad) arrived on Thursday afternoon. We hung out a bit and went to the pool. Surprisingly there was no blindness caused by the whiteness of Mom's legs!! Hehe Anyways, we visited John and Hayley, went to dinner and then one last trip as the Vegas tour guide to Fremont Street for Dusti. We got back to the apartment about 12:30 and that's when the real fun began. We decided to start moving stuff out to the trailer while it was cool (if you call 80 degrees cool). After a few rearrangements of the trailer, a lot sweating, too many trips to count up and down the stairs and 3 1/2 hours we decided to call it quits for the night.
Side note: I have to give a special thanks to my friend/sister Jen. She got up in the middle of the night even though she had to work the next day to come and sweat with us. It really meant a lot to me for her to do that. You really know who your true friends are. Thanks for the beautiful letter. It's a little easier to say goodbye to friends like that ONLY because you know that those are the ones that you will keep in touch with no matter where we are! I love ya girl!!
Back to the move.......of course Dad was up at the crack of dawn. Luckily I was up pretty early too. Thanks to my little brother's getting Dad fired up first thing this morning he was ready to go! We finished loading the trailer, went to breakfast and then were on our way to Mesa! Through tear filled eyes I drove out of Vegas to start my new adventure. Mom and I drove in my car and decided to go over the dam in hopes to get to Mesa fast enough to pick up keys. The other three took the truck, trailer and GPS through Laughlin with the plan to met back at the hotel in Anthem. Well Mom and I made it BARELY in time to pick up the keys. Thank goodness the apartments were so nice to let me pick up keys without even signing a contract. The other crew on the other hand decided to follow the GPS instead of the detour signs and end up going on an adventure of there own to a little town called Nelson. It was only about a 50 mile detour. So much for GPS helping you find the right way!!
Mom and I got back to the hotel only to have Dad waiting for us out front telling us we were going to go unload right now because the clutch in Luke's truck was going out. He decided that we needed to get unloaded and back on the road toward home as soon as possible. After getting into a heated "discussion", Dad won and we headed back to Mesa (45 minute drive). We unloaded in record time of about 1 1/2 hours thanks to Ruger coming to help and Luke running up and down the stairs. It felt good to be finished except for the mountain of boxes that I have to unload. My apartment is cute though.....I really like it! I will take pictures as soon as I get things put away. I decided to drive back to Anthem (AGAIN) to stay with the family. It's a good thing because this time the GPS really did come in handy. We were detoured off the freeway for road construction except that the detour signs just disappeared. Thank goodness I had my GPS that helped us get back to the hotel. It could have really been a LONG night!!!
Dad was pretty patient and let everyone sleep in until 8:30 (can you even say that is sleeping in??) We had some breakfast and then they headed home and thankfully they made it the whole way home without the clutch going out!!
While they were traveling I began the dreaded unpacking. Of course I have to clean everything really well before I can put anything away! I KNOW I"M A LITTLE OCD!! My GPS has helped as I've been learning my way around. I just type in Wal-Mart, Target, Grocery Store and my little GPS takes me to where I need to go! It's great......It helps me to not feel so lost and alone (it talks too :)) Ok this is getting extremely long so I end here!!

I'm officially a Zoni!

I finally made it to Arizona. I've been talking about moving here for so long that I can't believe I'm finally here. It was a bit more of an emotional rollercoaster than I expected. I now know why if I'm going to move that it has to be sooner than 6 years. Yep, I've been in Vegas for 6 years. I can hardly believe it myself. I had started growing roots that were a little harder to pull up than I had hoped. I've experienced some of the greatest joys of my life there and also some of the greatest sorrows. I spent the month of June saying goodbye to friends and family. I really felt sad to leave my second home at Palo Verde High School. I have really grown to love the people I work with. They have not only been my mentors as I developed as a teacher but have become great friends. I will miss them greatly. I did pretty good holding back my emotions in front of everyone until it came to saying goodbye to my Vegas brothers. The May's have become my family away from home. I couldn't hold back the tears when I said goodbye. It won't be the same without them to call when I need help or just a good steak! Luckily Vegas isn't too far away if I need to make a quick weekend trip to see everyone.
Although the goodbyes were tough, I haven't felt so good about a decision in a while. I know that moving to Arizona is the right thing to do so I am moving forward with blind faith that Heavenly Father is directing my path. I'm not going to lie......it's been tough and scary to change everything in my life. I'm not only changing locations but I'm also changing jobs, friends and pretty much everything I know. It's truly a NEW BEGINNING!