My soap box... What's wrong with you people?

So, one of the classes I'm taking this summer is for Instruction for English Language Learners. One of the chapters I just read describes and analyzes all the different programs for ELLs. It also synthesizes research and test scores from students in all of these programs. Turns out, bilingual education is the best option for long and short term success (academically and in English learning), and ESL pullout is the least effective for these learners. What really confuses me, is that some students in my class read this and say, "I'm still not sure what's best for ELLs." You're kidding right?!!! How can you say that? Look at the long and short term test scores of these students. California's proposition 227, eat your heart out! The sad thing is, this was around before the proposition, and no one cares. This is even more frustrating.... Lau vs. Nichols decided that language services needed to be in place for students to get an equal education. Shouldn't we be providing the best language services available? So, how in the world can the public vote away that right? Oh, wait.... here's the guy's (who started this proposition) main line of defense: My grandma learned English so why can't they? Seriously??? Did his grandma learn anything else, or just English? What did she do after she graduated (for that matter, did she graduate)? We shouldn't turn people's equal rights to education into a political voting campaign. Especially when people who vote aren't even educated about the issue.

Camping in Colorado

For our anniversary we decided to go camping outside of Pagossa Springs in Colorado. We had so much fun! We went on a hike to a gorgeous waterfall (which we don't have pictures of because our battery went dead). On the way back to the campsite we had cocktail hour with Dr. Peppers and Cheetos (what more could you ask for?). One morning we went to this English tea house/ antique shop and I had coffee while Tucker had an egg and cheese croissant. One night we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for s'mores over the campfire, and enjoyed sitting around the campfire together. On our way out of town we stopped by a local bar and had us some amazing fish tacos. I mean, AMAZING! It was a great anniversary!

Here's the tent we got. We love it! It's L.L. Beans Cabin tent for 8 people. It's height is 7'2" so there's plenty of room to walk upright. I don't know how 8 people can fit in there. We thought if it rained we'd have enough room to set up a little table inside. It's super easy to set up.

Here's a spot in the campground we stayed. Colorado is just so beautiful. It was fun going back for our anniversary since that's where we got married.

Melissa, do you remember playing in this river when we were little? We used to go here with my grandparents and cousins when we were little. It was fun to go back and see the place I have so many great memories of.

This was a picture we took on our drive to the hiking point. It was a fun drive and a great hike! Pagossa Springs area is only 4 hours away, and it has such great hikes and the town is so fun. We're definitely going back sometime!

Back in New Mexico

So, Tucker and I have started playing tennis some evenings. I'm not very good, and Tucker gets a great workout. He's so sweet, he'll run way out of bounds, into the cactus bushes, and scale the fence just to return my hits. It makes it more fun to play because we can actually get a volley going. Of course, the hope is that one day I'll improve and it'll be great exercise for both of us.

As we play we get to enjoy the cool desert air and the gorgeous desert sunsets.

The tennis courts are so pretty! I love the mountains as the backsplash, they wrap around the whole northeast side of the courts.

So, here's a new problem we've never had. Cactus weeds! They're sprouting up everywhere. Although they have lots of flowers (see all the buds) I refuse to have a yard full of cacti!

Our living room is finally getting settled in. It's nice to have a place to relax and to get out of the one room that has been everything for us (office, dining room, living room). Tucker did such a great job! Go Tucker Go!

Tour de Texas

So I haven't updated since I've been back. I had an amazing time with my good friend Leigh celebrating her graduation from DTS. Congratulations Leigh! I'm so thankful for her friendship and I had SOOOO much fun getting to hang out with her. I also got a fun car trip with one of my best friends Christine and I got to catch up with other good old friends and Central Asia friends. I miss my Texas friends!

Another exciting part of the trip was going to my older sister's baby shower. She's due in about 3 weeks now! I can't wait to see my first niece! Her shower was amazing, and so elegant! She got so many nice things for baby Claribel and I was so thankful for the many sweet ladies from my parents’ Bible Study and good friends that threw her the shower. Here are some pics from the shower.

Monie did the flowers and they were absolutely gorgeous. I don't know how she thinks of such creative ideas! These gerbera daisies had chocolate brown centers, nice extra touch. There was a few other cool arrangements but I just am having trouble putting those pictures where I want them in the blog.

Here's the baby book Melissa made for Claribel. The patterns match Claribel's bedding and room decorations. Melissa is very talented!

Here's another flower arrangement, this one was my favorite! There was also a small one in the bathroom- just to make the experience feel a little more elegant. Also, there were huge chocolate covered strawberries in all different patterns of dark and white chocolate with baby pink accents.

Whoops!

From Tucker (i.e. Rebecca's hubby): So I thought it would be nice to manage this internet thingy for my wife (Rebecca, I like to call her) while she's on her "Tour de Texas" for the next week and a half. Needless to say, about 5 minutes into it, I had accidentally deleted her background art.

After desperately searching the webernet for what felt like minutes, I realized that all hope was lost in ever recovering her cute floral background. However, I did find this bland, masculine looking one (actually, it was titled "masculine"...how could I NOT pick this one?)...hopefully Rebecca won't notice.

So my original purpose for writing is to say to mi esposa: HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!! Wha??? Do I know something that she doesn't??? Aside from knowing the name of every main character and pretty much all of the extras on M*A*S*H, the answer is no. But she is the mother of our plants, the mother of our household, and the mother of our beautiful garden...check out this bad boy that popped up in the two days she's been gone:



So I got Rebecca a little Mother's Day gift...mostly to entice her to come back to New Mex once her trip is over (hey, that great food and moisture in Tejas can make it difficult to want to come back to the desert). Check it out:


Rebecca's been dropping hints for a week now about how much she loved this chair. I've just been pretending not to hear her, or to be interested in something else when she brought it up (like that ShamWOW commercial, for example...I sure hope I don't get that in my stocking this Christmas). But now that it's in the house, I must say that I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Here's me thinking on the chair:


Here's me watching t.v. beside the chair:


And here's me sleeping under the chair (maybe this isn't how it was intended to be used, though):


I know what you're thinking...I should've been a chair model. But you have to make too many compromises to be successful in the chair, stool, and bench modeling industry. However, I'm loving this chair, and I hope Rebecca does too!

I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was just another train heading towards me. -Tucker, Sunday

In spite of our mess inside, our yard is absolutely gorgeous!



So, the past 2 1/2 weeks have been a blur. We haven't gotten to bed before midnight. Friday night I went to bed at 1, Tucker at 3. Saturday night me 12:30 and Tucker 5:15, and Sunday both of us went to bed at 3. Tucker was walking down the hall at work yesterday and he couldn't keep his eyes from crossing. He has this incredible ability to keep his eyes open, but he's not so much in control of his eyeballs. But, we are really happy about how everything is turning out. We just have the countertops, baseboards, order and install new refrigerator, back splash, and sink! Piece of cake! Ha!
Tucker is making a mess! He had to saw off part of the brick so the floors would fit under it. He went through 8 blades. He's working so hard. It's probably not the best idea to operate heavy equipment when you only get a few hours of sleep every night, but let's face it; we think doing this whole renovation ourselves wasn't the best idea either. Just call us next time you need some bad advice!
Didn't he do a great job making the wood fit under the fireplace, I'm impressed (as always)!
This was Tuckers project from 12:30 to 5 am, Friday night. It looks awesome!
A picture taken from the hallway. We're ordering a new frig. this week, it really stands out now.
Aren't my cabinets so pretty? One of our neighbors came over and said, "Your cabinets look so good, could you paint ours?" Then he asked how long it was going to take me to "touch up those scuffed up parts." My question is... If he didn't realize that those were on purpose, why in the world would he want me to paint their cabinets???!!!
This is the granite up close. It's got a lot of green and orange in it, and then a black river line across the top. It's so cool!

What about us?

So,
women have a hormone to help them forget about the horribleness of pregnancy. Tucker and I want to know where our hormone is to help us forget about this renovation! Tucker went to bed at 5am last night, I crashed shortly after midnight. This is insane. And because we don't have our hormone, we won't EVER be doing this again!