Welcome Home Elder Whitmer!

Elder Whitmer returned home on Wednesday from a 2 year mission to the Denver Colorado North mission. We are so happy for him to have made this accomplishment! Here are some pics!This is the first view we got of him coming through the security gates!This is me hugging him.Hugging Grandma!

Do you think he grew?? He is SOOO tall! It's crazy! I swear he wasn't that tall when he left.

Other peeps at the airport:

Chelsea and Steve-O (boyfriend)Stubborn girls! Wadsworth Clan

Aunt Sylvia, Brighton, and Becca (Sorry the pic is slanted)

Sean and I with Aiga and Maris

Dinner at Macayo's(mmmm!) Aubrey and Sierra came home from girl's camp to see Nathan. What a sacrifice! (Yeah...right!)
Maris girl!

Trisha and James

Aunt Shauna, Grandma, and Briana

Charlie and Lauren (Charlie's Fiance)

We totally didn't get pictures of everybody there, but it was fun!

In Less Than 3 Days...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

This little cutie batootie will returning home from serving a 2 year mission. Wow! It's gone by fast!

Sad Day in Room 13!

I will always remember my first day/week of teaching in room 13. There were much tears, anxiety, curiousity, and enjoyment... much like my last day/week of teaching in room 13. Did I shed tears? Very much so. Was I anxious and curious about what will happen next in my life? Um...definitely. There was much enjoyment as well when I realized I had a whole week off to finish unpacking things in our new house.

Sad to say, I was "pink slipped" from the school district. When I received this so called pink slip, they kept telling us they could be calling us back. Considering the fact that Sean and I had just put an offer on a house, I couldn't sit around and wait to hear from the district. On top of that, other districts were letting people go at the same time. Did I want to compete with 500 other teachers who were in search for a teaching job? Hmm...let me think...NO!

Luckily, my really cool husband and I had a backup plan ready to go. For some reason, I had a feeling I was going to get let go. I am going to work with the hubby. Of course not the same position, but the same company and building.

My principal came to talk to me when he heard wind of this new job. I was advised to write a letter of resignation. I felt really good about taking this other job...don't know why, but I did. Long story short...

Wrote the letter,

turned it in,

teachers started to get called back,

found out I would have been one of them,

went through a few seconds of regret,

decided everything happens for a reason,

turned my head and didn't look back

This last week was a LONG week. Besides the fact that we moved from our apartment into a house, I had to pack up my classroom at the same time. You don't realize how much stuff you collect until you have to go through everything!

I was done packing everything and had to go meet with the principal to "check out". Then he asked me, "When you look back to your first year of teaching, what will you think about?" That's when the tears started going. Wow! I did not think I would cry that much. I didn't even cry when I found out I was losing my job. The next day was our staff breakfast/goodbye. I cried and cried.

I took my last few things out of my room, took a good look around, turned off the light, and went on my way.

University of Phoenix, get ready, cause I am coming on board.

One thing I have learned is that things really do happen for a reason. There is a reason why I was able to get another job so quickly and why that opportunity came. While I am still searching for the reasons, I know I'll look back years from know and realize how and why everything worked out.

Hopefully I can come back to teaching. I LOVE it and wouldn't trade it for anything. I will never forget the little stinkers that I got to teach everyday.

What's next on my list?

Going to get my masters. Am I excited? Nope. Will it be worth it? Yep.

Oh, and maybe we'll work on starting a family with little Ortega's...we'll see what the Lord has in store for us.

La Casa de Ortega

It's official! We are home owners! We are so blessed to be able to own a home in this economy. Here is a picture of our humble abode.

The picture is kind of fuzzy, but we LOVE it! More pictures to come!

Mi casa es su casa. Hee hee!

Why were these little boogers ever created?

It actually gives me the heeby geebies to look at it! I am 100% terrified of grasshoppers and it really is ridiculous. Between these nasty creatures and cockroaches, I might end up dying of some type of heart failure because I think I freak out and panic when I come in contact with either of the two. For example, Sean and I decided to go play basketball one night at the apartment basketball courts. Well, after playing a game of one-on-one with him (which he totally beat me and I'm suprised he even enjoys playing with me), I decided I would run some laps around the basketball courts in order to do something while he shot around. Bad idea...there are parts of the court that are more lit than other parts. Well, as I'm running and not paying attention to where I'm running, I apparently interrupted a grasshopper party because they all start jumping around me! I was screaming and dancing around because for some reason, they jump TOWARD you, not away from you. Then of course, Sean decided to have a little fun with me and pick up a fat and short stick (that looked very much like a grasshopper) and was coming toward me with it.

Next experience...I was in my classroom and we were switching classes for our intervention groups. Well, the kids were all coming in and all of a sudden there was a grasshopper flying around frantically. It was a BIG one, might I add. The kids thought it was funny cause I was screaming and running around. Luckily, I have some "macho" boys that were able to get a hold of it and take it outside.

Now, are you ready for what happened tonight? Drum roll...my heart is still pounding due to the exessive screaming and panicing that took place.

Sean and I were walking to our car from a restaurant where we bought gift cards. We get in the car and we were talking about something (I'm sure it was something important, but I can't remember due to the traumatic experience that I had about one second later). I looked down at my leg and saw it! It was big and so ugly! I covered my face and screamed so loud that Sean started freaking out asking me what was wrong. I couldn't respond...I had no words in me. All that came out was a loud scream! (My throat still hurts by the way.) The problem was this: I couldn't take my hands off of my face to point at it because if I made too much movement, it would fly in my face which, at that point, would be uncovered. So, Sean finally saw what I was screaming about and luckily we were at a stop sign. He opened the door and threw it out.

Dear Grasshopper that landed on me,

I hate you. You stink. Next time I see you, I won't be able to do anything because I will be screaming so loud. So, please have some sympathy on me and understand that I might die of a heart attack if you land on me.

Not Love, Not Sincerely,

-Staci