Valley of Fire

We went camping this weekend to get away from Vegas for a little bit.  We ended up at Valley of Fire (about 45 minutes outside of Vegas).

We saw Petroglyphs from over 4000 years ago!

That's our tiny little camper trailer in the bottom left!  We rented it from on base.

Valley of Fire is beautiful!

Classroom Update

Here are some recent pics of my classroom after an overhaul.  It's not perfect, but it's much better than before!

My New Classroom

I got a job!  I'll be teaching Part Time Kindergarten (it's only a half day job- perfect!).  Here are some pics of my classroom as it is now (before I get to work in there).  The class has had a long-term sub in there, so it's lacking a little personality.  :)

The awesome view from my window

The classes are a good size and so nice and new (the school was built in 2010).

Death Valley, Ca

At the bottom of Death Valley.  These are the salt flats.  And yes, we tasted the salt- tasted just like table salt!

We were 282 feet below sea level.  Aside from the incredible pressure in my head- it was neat.

At the top of Death Valley

A Rare Rainy Day in Vegas

The dog enjoying the rain on the front porch

Rain-soaked back yard

It is so nice to have a rare rainy day here in Vegas. 

Grand Canyon Camping Trip

Ignore my crazy hair in this picture.  Camping = no shower.

Is it just me or does this picture look photo-shopped? :)

We went camping at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for Labor Day weekend.  It was beautiful and so nice to escape the Vegas heat!

Newport, Or

Family

While in Oregon, we got to meet up with Hayley's aunt and uncle for lunch and a little shopping in a cute little coastal town called Florence.

Gray Whales

 Gray whales are a common sight along this part of the Oregon coast.

And two cute little sea lions!

Oregon Coast

Oregon is so beautiful.  It reminded us a lot of New Zealand.  Everything is so lush and green (and probably seemed even more so since we live in the desert!)

A waterfall we happened upon

The bay right by our B&B.  Famous for gray whale sightings.  We saw a few while there.

Our patio

Beautiful sunset

Are you in love with Oregon yet??

Oregon!

After a great trip to Texas, we headed to Oregon for vacation.  We both absolutely fell in love with Oregon and I would move there tomorrow!  After landing in Portland, our first stop was the wineries.... of course!  :)

Hayley's idea of Heaven....

The wineries in Oregon are beautiful

Enjoying a wine tasting

You can barely see Mt. Hood in the background

Oh yeah..... we were cruising around the vineyards in Ol' Baby Blue 

(last minute rental!)