Saturday, June 22, 2013
Volleyball
Blaine and some dental friends put together a sand volleyball team for an intramural tournament and I thought I'd share some pictures since it was pretty much Blaine's first time ever playing organized volleyball. He's so cute huh? ;)
D1 Dinner at Bricktown
Last night was Blaine's dinner with his D1 class at the Bourbon Street Cafe in Bricktown.
We carpooled with our friends Jon and Darlene and ordered virgin pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris with them while others got their non-virgin drinks on. We had some nice steak, salmon, and mashed potatoes and the D2 kids made some announcements and put together a little video about how fun dental school is.
Oh yeah, we somehow got a tiny fork in our napkin...?
Then afterwards we walked around Bricktown a little bit, checking out the bands and restaurants and everything. I found out that the water taxis are $9 a person, so we saved that for another day. But there were also lots of horse drawn carriages and even one that looked like Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. Here are a couple pictures of the Bricktown Candy Co. and sampled their gelato
We carpooled with our friends Jon and Darlene and ordered virgin pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris with them while others got their non-virgin drinks on. We had some nice steak, salmon, and mashed potatoes and the D2 kids made some announcements and put together a little video about how fun dental school is.
Oh yeah, we somehow got a tiny fork in our napkin...?
Then afterwards we walked around Bricktown a little bit, checking out the bands and restaurants and everything. I found out that the water taxis are $9 a person, so we saved that for another day. But there were also lots of horse drawn carriages and even one that looked like Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. Here are a couple pictures of the Bricktown Candy Co. and sampled their gelato
Friday, June 21, 2013
1st Job Interview of OKC
Remember when we went out with the missionaries on Monday and that guy told me about that website to find coaching jobs? Well I had a job interview today as a result of that. It was in McLoud, OK, about 40 minutes east of OKC. There was nothing but trees and fields between here and there. Well, halfway between here and there in Midwest City is Tinker Air Force Base, but other that that, nothing going on.
McLoud is a really tiny community with pretty old schools. All the schools are in the same little area and there is a lot of overlap between them. They have 2 safe houses on campus for when tornadoes hit.
I met with the Athletic Director of the High School and Junior High, who is also the Assistant Principal. I originally applied for the position because it said softball and basketball coach, but when he called, he said he also needs a pom coach for the dance team. He said that he saw on my resume that my interests and hobbies included music and Zumba, so he was hoping I'd be interested.
So I met with him today and we talked for an hour. The position would include teaching 3 periods of a junior high elective class called "Leadership." Then coaching pom for one period, then coaching softball for 2 periods during softball season and basketball for those 2 periods during basketball season. So its junior high slow pitch softball, junior high fast pitch softball, and junior high basketball. And then high school pom coach, which apparently used to be a popular and successful program, but hit an all time low last year when they had a change in coaching, so they need to rebuild. I called Alexis and she was excited for me and said we could choreograph some routines on facetime together :)
It's really nice that the majority of the coaching would be during the school day, so hopefully I could leave at 3:20 half the time instead of having after school practices. But I'd still have games in the afternoons and evenings, which would be fun, but just a big commitment.
He didn't ask me too many questions at all, just wanted to know my experience with each of those sports. He said that he really liked my enthusiasm and that its just what they need - especially the pom squad. The AD was a nice country guy who sincerely told me to do whatever is best for me and my husband at this time and shared some personal details of his life to reiterate what a big time commitment coaching is.
OH! And I'd have to get my CDL license because I'd have to drive the school bus to take my teams to all our away games. I mean, talk about a fun and unique experience!!!
SO I don't know what to do. I want to do it because I think it wouldn't be very hard, just time consuming. I also think it would be fun to be involved with all those sports and get to know all those kids in that community. And how many people can say they've driven a school bus? It would also be good experience in a variety of areas and would help me extend my teaching license.
If it was closer to my house I think it'd be an easy "yes," but its not, and I have some concerns:
- I would spend at least an hour and a half in the car everyday, much of that time being early and late
- It would be a lot of time spent away from home and Blaine, and I think, "what if Blaine is super stressed and needs me?" or "we'll never have a normal night or dinner time and there are things around the house that need to be done"
- The majority of my free time would be gone - evenings, weekends, vacations. For example, Alexis' wedding is the day after school starts.
- My number one priority is having a baby, which means I'll continue to have several doctors appointments and I need to have a flexible schedule to get to them and in the same city
SO... thats that. I don't know what I'll do because I keep going back and forth, but pretty much, the job is mine if I want it.
Oh yeah, one more funny story. I was talking to my dad on the phone afterwards and I got turned around as I was leaving the school and ended up driving to another tiny town on this little back road before meeting up with the freeway. But before I got to the freeway, I either somehow got stuck in the middle of a funeral processional or was bringing up the rear of one. Everyone on the opposite side of this country road had pulled off to the side out of respect and I'm describing this to my dad, all the while just wanting to find I-44. I don't know what happened, but it was funny.
McLoud is a really tiny community with pretty old schools. All the schools are in the same little area and there is a lot of overlap between them. They have 2 safe houses on campus for when tornadoes hit.
I met with the Athletic Director of the High School and Junior High, who is also the Assistant Principal. I originally applied for the position because it said softball and basketball coach, but when he called, he said he also needs a pom coach for the dance team. He said that he saw on my resume that my interests and hobbies included music and Zumba, so he was hoping I'd be interested.
So I met with him today and we talked for an hour. The position would include teaching 3 periods of a junior high elective class called "Leadership." Then coaching pom for one period, then coaching softball for 2 periods during softball season and basketball for those 2 periods during basketball season. So its junior high slow pitch softball, junior high fast pitch softball, and junior high basketball. And then high school pom coach, which apparently used to be a popular and successful program, but hit an all time low last year when they had a change in coaching, so they need to rebuild. I called Alexis and she was excited for me and said we could choreograph some routines on facetime together :)
It's really nice that the majority of the coaching would be during the school day, so hopefully I could leave at 3:20 half the time instead of having after school practices. But I'd still have games in the afternoons and evenings, which would be fun, but just a big commitment.
He didn't ask me too many questions at all, just wanted to know my experience with each of those sports. He said that he really liked my enthusiasm and that its just what they need - especially the pom squad. The AD was a nice country guy who sincerely told me to do whatever is best for me and my husband at this time and shared some personal details of his life to reiterate what a big time commitment coaching is.
OH! And I'd have to get my CDL license because I'd have to drive the school bus to take my teams to all our away games. I mean, talk about a fun and unique experience!!!
SO I don't know what to do. I want to do it because I think it wouldn't be very hard, just time consuming. I also think it would be fun to be involved with all those sports and get to know all those kids in that community. And how many people can say they've driven a school bus? It would also be good experience in a variety of areas and would help me extend my teaching license.
If it was closer to my house I think it'd be an easy "yes," but its not, and I have some concerns:
- I would spend at least an hour and a half in the car everyday, much of that time being early and late
- It would be a lot of time spent away from home and Blaine, and I think, "what if Blaine is super stressed and needs me?" or "we'll never have a normal night or dinner time and there are things around the house that need to be done"
- The majority of my free time would be gone - evenings, weekends, vacations. For example, Alexis' wedding is the day after school starts.
- My number one priority is having a baby, which means I'll continue to have several doctors appointments and I need to have a flexible schedule to get to them and in the same city
SO... thats that. I don't know what I'll do because I keep going back and forth, but pretty much, the job is mine if I want it.
Oh yeah, one more funny story. I was talking to my dad on the phone afterwards and I got turned around as I was leaving the school and ended up driving to another tiny town on this little back road before meeting up with the freeway. But before I got to the freeway, I either somehow got stuck in the middle of a funeral processional or was bringing up the rear of one. Everyone on the opposite side of this country road had pulled off to the side out of respect and I'm describing this to my dad, all the while just wanting to find I-44. I don't know what happened, but it was funny.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
OKC Friends
Last Saturday was a busy day for us on the social scene. We first went to a fondue party with a bunch of people in our ward who live in our same apartment complex. A couple of them had babies but surprisingly, many did not. (There was one baby girl named Jocelyn who was SO BEAUTIFUL!) Everyone was really friendly and I was glad to know so many of our ward members live here with us. It is a really large complex, but judging the it strictly off of its pools, I was worried we were living in a frat house. I hope you do more things with those couples.
Then from there, we went to meet Blaine's classmates. It was just an informal, unofficial gathering that someone set up on facebook for the D1 students. The host was a woman in probably her early thirties who had a little girl and a husband in the Air Force. They had a slideshow of his military pictures going in the living room, which were really cool.
Everyone was really nice and friendly, as I've mentioned before. Everyone is really spiritual and open about religion too, as I've mentioned before. Some people were a little drunk, but the night turned out much better than I thought. While we were there, we met up with another LDS couple from Arizona who are in another ward. We left the party around 10:30 because I was so hungry and had only eaten fondue for lunch and dinner.
Long story short, the girl of that couple (Darlene) works at Chile's, so we ended up going out to eat at Chile's with them and it was a lot of fun. It was Blaine's first time and we deemed it a successful trip. And because of her sweet employee discount, they even paid for our food. It was really sweet of them and we've really become good friends with them. Her husband (Jon) is the one that Blaine carpools to school with every morning.
Here are a couple of very bad and blurry pictures, but better than nothing ;)
Then from there, we went to meet Blaine's classmates. It was just an informal, unofficial gathering that someone set up on facebook for the D1 students. The host was a woman in probably her early thirties who had a little girl and a husband in the Air Force. They had a slideshow of his military pictures going in the living room, which were really cool.
Everyone was really nice and friendly, as I've mentioned before. Everyone is really spiritual and open about religion too, as I've mentioned before. Some people were a little drunk, but the night turned out much better than I thought. While we were there, we met up with another LDS couple from Arizona who are in another ward. We left the party around 10:30 because I was so hungry and had only eaten fondue for lunch and dinner.
Long story short, the girl of that couple (Darlene) works at Chile's, so we ended up going out to eat at Chile's with them and it was a lot of fun. It was Blaine's first time and we deemed it a successful trip. And because of her sweet employee discount, they even paid for our food. It was really sweet of them and we've really become good friends with them. Her husband (Jon) is the one that Blaine carpools to school with every morning.
Here are a couple of very bad and blurry pictures, but better than nothing ;)
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Oklahoma Temple and Neighborhoods
On Saturday we decided to go to the OKC temple (technically in Yukon, OK). So we drove 25 minutes and got there to find out that it was closing. They close around 4 on Saturdays apparently, which is a lot different from our Provo and other Utah temples. But at least we found out where it was. It was VERY small and one of those that shares a parking lot with the stake center.
Then we saw this on the way home: I think you have to be 51% Native American to work out here ;)
Anyways, Sunday afternoon we drove around Nichols Hills to just explore some neighborhoods around OKC. Blaine's friend at church told us that Nichols Hills was nice-- and it was. There are lots of trees and grassy areas around here, which I didn't expect for Oklahoma. But it's really pretty. Each house had a TON of land - huge front lawns and backyards, lots of trees, which made it hard to take pictures. I took a couple to give you an idea of what it looks like but it DOES NOT do it justice. Lots of brick, lots of triangular, European features. Just come visit. Its so much better in person. They are beautiful neighborhoods that Blaine and I think we could live in. Just keeping our options open :)
Then we saw this on the way home: I think you have to be 51% Native American to work out here ;)
Anyways, Sunday afternoon we drove around Nichols Hills to just explore some neighborhoods around OKC. Blaine's friend at church told us that Nichols Hills was nice-- and it was. There are lots of trees and grassy areas around here, which I didn't expect for Oklahoma. But it's really pretty. Each house had a TON of land - huge front lawns and backyards, lots of trees, which made it hard to take pictures. I took a couple to give you an idea of what it looks like but it DOES NOT do it justice. Lots of brick, lots of triangular, European features. Just come visit. Its so much better in person. They are beautiful neighborhoods that Blaine and I think we could live in. Just keeping our options open :)
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