Summer Recap

*This is a rather long (sorry) summary of our summer...more posts with pictures to come!

This summer has been so busy! My last day at Bright Start Therapies was June 17th and I had huge plans of what I was going to do for 8 weeks of freedom! I actually volunteered to teach summer school for four weeks for the school district I was hired for. I taught the Kindergarten/1st grade SDC Autism class and really enjoyed myself. The class was only from 8am to 11am, so it was great to have my afternoons to relax! The kids were adorable and I really had a great introduction to the school district!


I was able to have lunch with awesome friends, some that I had not seen for a while. My dear friend Valerie and I had a great lunch at Plutos (my favorite salad bar.) We had great conversation and I really enjoyed catching up with her...when I left I got to wondering why I let myself get so busy that I neglect time with friends? I also had lunch with my friend Derek who I met during my internship at UC Davis. We met at Panera and then I introduced him to Pink Berry Frozen Yogurt....yum! I am so excited for him because he was accepted to a PhD program in Washington for Speech Pathology! Wow! Good luck Derek! You will be missed!


Rick and I enjoyed a few Tuesday night events with our friends Blake and Becky. Our consistency in meeting was not as great this summer as it was during the school year due to travels, but we had fun bike riding, hiking, and eating yummy food with them. We also hung out with them on the 4th of July and had a great time watching fireworks in their front yard. They are expecting their first child this January so we are very excited for them! This Friday we are having a "Gender Reveal" party for them....can't wait!

Rick and I had a wonderful time visiting family down in San Diego in June and then again in August. In June, Rick, his dad, uncle, and his uncles dad teamed up for a golf mixer. They were hilarious and dressed in Raiders gear. I was able to go up to my cousin's baseball game with family in Fullerton. It was a quick, but very fun trip. In August, we spent a little over two weeks down there. We were able to see Ben, Laurin, and Brinkley while they were visiting from Michigan. Oh, the joy it brought me to see little Brink in person.


Rick left for four days on a company trip to Virginia while we were down there. I spent most of my time hanging out with my grandma and grandpa. They recently moved in with my parents and seem to be very happy there. They loved having our dogs around! My grandmother especially liked Riley who sat on her lap most of the time. Near the end of our trip we celebrated Ezra and Elijah's (Ricks Cousins) 6th birthday. Unfortunately, Rick came down with the flu so he was unable to attend. Thankfully, he recovered quickly and our ride back up to Sacramento was uneventful!

My parents and sister and brother-in-law came up last week for a quick visit. We had a wonderful time cruising down the American River on a raft, watching movies, and touring the lovely town of Chico. While we were in Chico we were able to see my Aunt Jill and Uncle Tim at my cousin's baseball game. We also toured the Sierra Nevada Brewery.

My grandmother also came up to visit and help me set up my classroom for this year. I will be teaching a combo (pre-k/kindergarten) SDC language intensive class. She was amazing! Standing on chairs to hang paper, hanging borders, and organizing things...I couldn't have done it without her.

I had plans to read atleast 6 books during the summer. Unfortunately that did not happen. However, a friend of mine (Dale) and I started a Facebook Reading Club "Dalena's book club" in July and it has been a blast so far! Our first book was "The particular sadness of lemon cake." Interesting read...thats all I have to say. This month we are reading "Fly away home." I have been very slow on this months pick, but I am enjoying it.

So that is about it for now! Check back for more posts with pics!