I Attempt Technology All the Time with Little Success

A teacher was in the workroom this afternoon and mentioned test scores from last year for current students. I have been WAITING for this kind of data so I asked, "Where? How?" I was shown the website. So I went to the website and it turns out you have to log in. So I tried that. My password didn't work. So I clicked on "forgot password." Got a message that my account may have been locked or deleted. Or...I never had an account. So...I tried to register...got another message that I may already have an account. And don't even get me started on reCAPTCHA. I clicked on the crosswalk pictures. I checked every traffic light photo I could find. I spent way too much time on the reCAPTCHA portion of this process. No success. So I called the 1-800 number. They are closed, of course, because who works teacher hours? So I left a message. So frustrating.

So then I tried to set up my parent teacher conferences online as instructed. You know what? We only do this twice a year and it is not memorable. Last time we had conferences, the school secretary came to my classroom to personally thank me for being just one of two teachers in the whole building who did it correctly. That's not my usual...in case you were wondering. I don't even know how I did it correctly. I think I followed the tutorial. But the whole rest of the faculty got it wrong and she was not happy! So now I'm terrified! I'm going to get this wrong. And I looked at the tutorial and...my heart is fluttering inside my chest. I don't think I can follow it. I don't believe that I ever successfully followed it. I don't even want to attempt this. And do you know how much time this is taking? I have Cub Scouts and presidency meeting tonight and I haven't had dinner yet. I am angsty.

I don't like it when people say, "Just watch the tutorial." Or how 'bout this one, "It's on the drive." Or..."It's all right there online." All of this stuff takes time, People! Time I don't have. I made a brave attempt tonight in the quiet of my classroom, but I am backing down for now. Perhaps tomorrow I will find my way. I can't mess this up! The secretary!

I'm super dreading the Teacher Self-Evaluation thing I have to do, because you know what? Without FAIL! Every stinkin' year I do it and cross my t's and dot my i's and triple check and it all looks good and then I talk to my administrator and ask them to check pretty please on their end of things to make sure it looks okay and that I accomplished the task and...no exaggeration! EVERY. STINKIN'. YEAR. The administrators say, "Yes! We've got yours! It looks good! You did it right!" And every stinkin' year I breathe a sigh of relief because I finally jumped that hurdle and then...every. stinkin. year. My administrators send me an email and say, "You haven't completed your self-evaluation yet. Please get on that."

And I cry. Because there are no points for best effort. There are no points for painstaking attention to details. There is no credit for watching the tutorial or taking notes on the tutorial or even printing the tutorial out ahead of time and, ahem, highlighting it. There are just other faculty members who flippantly comment, "Oh, I did that already." Or, "Yeah, that didn't take me long." Or even, "Don't you remember from last time?"

No, no. I DON'T remember!!!

Summer Vacation is...Poof! Gone!

Well, we had fun, but summer vacation is absolutely 100% over for me. We camped and hiked and spent time with family and just each other. We saw HAMILTON in Las Vegas and swam in the beautiful pool at our hotel. We also swam in natural hot springs in Wyoming. So many dirt and gravel roads. Miles and miles of dirt roads which allowed me to nap sometimes while The Ranger drove on in his glory of exploration, five or six maps at the ready for consultation. I lost track of the number of new Forest Service maps he bought this summer. He just can't get enough maps. We took lots of photos. We lived off bologna sandwiches on the weekends. I lost weight as I do every summer and slept very well. Just as I do every August, I wonder if I would continue to lose weight if I could hang on to this summer vacation lifestyle instead of returning to the universe of stress and work. Don't get me wrong, I love the children I teach...it's just that...it's hard to keep a healthy balance of things while teaching.

Also, my return from Yellowstone signals the beginning of ten weeks of hell where we do this living apart thing. It never gets easier.

I can't tell you how many times I've entered and exited the states of Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (we also went to Arizona and Nevada). The RAV4 is over 283,000 miles and when I came home in July for a quick second, I discovered a stow away rodent who endured me singing at the top of my lungs to the entire Hamilton soundtrack three times all the way through, back to back. At least it had AC for the ride. We live in the woods, what can I say? Some marmot decided to use our back porch as a pooping place. Marmot poop is exceptionally sticky--you can't just sweep it off the porch even after it's dry. TMI, I know.

Here's to trading my bear spray for a lanyard and whistle. Instead of wearing an orange safety vest for bison jams and elk jams, I'll be wearing one for recess duty and bus duty. Instead of answering the incessant query, "What is there to do in this area of the park?" I'll be answering the incessant comment from fifth graders, "I don't get it." And instead of wending my way through park traffic, I'll be back on my daily I-15 commute.

Instead of looking at Facebook at 4:00 a.m. in the morning while most of the park was sleeping and I could get at least a little access to it, I am currently Facebook Fasting for at least a week. And you know what? It's not hard to leave it alone at all. I thought it would be more of a struggle for me. Facebook does keep emailing me to tell me how many messages and posts I'm missing. Apparently, THEY are rather addicted to ME and it worries them that I haven't logged in for several days.

Addictions Begin Early in Life

I made it back to my own ward today after a summer in Yellowstone. A five year old I've never met in my entire life came up to me in the hallway at Church and asked, "Can I have a piece of candy?" I replied, "Sorry, I don't have any candy."

I was standing in the hall talking to his mom who had apologized for his brazen behavior. After a few minutes he swung by again and asked, "If you don't have any candy, what DO you have in that purse?"

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Inspired Recreation

Okay, you'll probably really think I'm peculiar after reading this post, but I wanted to nod toward my husband when it comes to a certain type of leadership in our family, that of "wholesome recreation" as written in the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Before I met and married Ken, I was a really nose-to-the-grindstone kind of person. I was focused on paying bills, working a second job in addition to teaching school, and depriving myself of many things in order to become debt free. I was raised in a family that didn't do things like take us to Disneyland. We had picnics with cheese, crackers, and watermelon. If I needed something in high school like a dental appointment, a prom dress, or senior pictures, I had to arrange all those things by myself. I kept getting my dad's vet bills for his dog, Duke, after Dad moved out and continually called the vet after each notice explaining to them that this was not my dog and that I was not an adult and they could reach my dad at such-and-such a phone number and address. After graduation at seventeen, I moved out and was on my own for the duration. My parents never gave me a car. I struggled through college and gave every last cent I had for my mission. It takes a long time to pay for these things and manage to clothe yourself. I constantly compared myself to roommates whose parents gave them cars (or they could just move back in with their parents if they had to) and clothes and other gifts, parents who payed or helped pay for their college expenses or their missions or their cell phones. So, not complaining, because I learned a TON through the struggle and am a better person for it, but what I'm trying to say is...I wasn't having as much fun as some of those around me. They had gone on study abroad or would just go buy something or felt entitled to trips or other luxuries like clothing...and I wondered how they balanced all of that. I felt like I couldn't go anywhere or do anything because I was still playing catch up from not having any of those safety nets that a lot of people provide for their children.

And then I met this ranger. He grew up in a stable family with no history of divorce. His parents paid for his college and made sure his needs were met. They provided a financial and emotional scaffold for him throughout his childhood and young adult years. They didn't take him to Disneyland either, but they took him on lots of trips, including the "let's go check out some colleges" trip. Unheard of in my family (my parents never went to college). I announced to my parents that I was planning to attend the University of Montana. My mom said, "Someone was raped there last week." My dad said, "Don't expect me to pay for it." But I digress.

TR majored in RECREATION! It seemed a bit frivolous to me at first. But he pointed out that it's written in the family proclamation. And I am so grateful I married someone who believes in this stuff. We have had an absolute blast together. We've done things I've never dreamed of. Been to Hawai'i twice. Visited big cities such as: Washington D.C, San Antonio, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Diego. We've been to so many NPS sites. Hello, we went to Japan in April. We've seen Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Hamilton. He knows how to pack it in!

On Wednesday evening, we did our finances. Afterward, he surprised me with this. "Hamilton is playing in Vegas. There are two seats left together. Wanna go?" YES!!! So he bought the tickets, booked our hotel, and we left the next day when he got off work. Spontaneous! We swam. We ate. We attended the Las Vegas Temple and did sealings for ancestors on my side of the family. And I FINALLY GOT TO SEE HAMILTON!!! It was amazing. And he loved it too! And we keep bringing up pieces of the show in our conversations. And on the way home we visited three of his cousins and their families. And then we started packing for Yellowstone.

We are off this morning for our sixth summer in the park. Oh the adventures we have had and the adventures that are in store! It's a crazy life, but you know what, it's all a gift and I'm glad I'm a part of it. I could stay home and paint the bedroom, but nah...I enjoy volunteering and engaging with park visitors. Most of all, I love cohabitating with my husband and sharing life together with him. I love that he has brought so much fun and recreation to my life. It was something that was missing. And yes, I have brought debt-free living to his life and now he can see the benefits of that. Together, we are Team Kyburz.

And that's how we manage to do things like wake up in Las Vegas on Saturday morning and go to bed in Yellowstone National Park on Sunday evening--6 Western States in 2 days, Baby!

I See London...I See Spain?

We went camping. TR was kneeling down to pound in the stakes of our tent. It was just the two of us and I noticed something and since I'm an elementary school teacher...I just sort of sang out, "I see London, I see France..." He knew what I was talking about. So later, I was tending to the fajitas we were making in the fire pit and TR thought it would be an appropriate time to get back at me saying, "I see Spain! I see France!"

Spain?

Still laughing.

Sheriff Ivan, King of the Ranch

So yesterday I stopped by my sister's ranch to visit for an hour and a half on my way home from seeing Dad. This is my oldest sister who is married to a cowboy and they have cattle and horses and other various animals at various times along with several dogs. My second oldest sister is also living there. And she is the one who has decided that Ivan is the Sheriff of the entire dog posse...and king of the whole ranch. Ivan is a minpin who hasn't missed too many meals. He's low to the ground with big ears that stick straight up, but everything else is round and robust which prevents him from jumping up on the couch to cuddle, so he just whines until his favorite human picks him up for a nap. Snoring is his specialty.

There's Stinger who is the boss of the outdoors. He likes going into the house too, but finds it ever so much more fun to sniff through the bushes and generally patrol the property. He's a mostly big white dog with some blonde patches.

Fancy is a miniature schnauzer who is eight years old, so she's quite finished with caring about most things except for naps on the couch. That is her forte. She's a little old gray lady.

Squeaky is a fluffy black thing with a pointed nose. I think he looks and moves (waddles) just like a skunk minus the white stripe. He's a little love and nested right in under my arm for petting and devotion. He's also portly and has a habit of wheezing.

Shiloh is a teenage movie star. She is a glamorous red-headed standard poodle with curls for days and big brown eyes. She plops herself on the couch literally sprawling ALL over with her head resting on my sister's thigh or belly and her own legs splayed open. Her only concern is to be stroked by my sister. She hasn't quite grown into her legs yet but makes friends easily by licking and licking and licking every finger and hand she can find. Shiloh is currently fascinated with Tallie's pups and wants to see one really, really bad, but Tallie isn't having it.

Tallie is a cow dog. She works hard with my sister's husband and is an Australian Shepherd. She was bred with another dog and gave birth to 8 pups five days ago. So yes, I was holding four day old puppies yesterday and Tallie was just fine with that. She completely trusts all the humans. Other dogs? Not so much. She watches her seven sons and one daughter like a hawk and if anyone comes near, such as the ever curious Shiloh who will be bred next year and have her own turn at motherhood, Tallie just tears right out of that nest of babies shrieking and barking like no other. Shiloh is just going to have to wait awhile before she can seriously become an aunt. These puppies are with their mother in a dog house on the front porch (the one that's shaped like an igloo). Tallie goes inside the house when she feels like it, but the other five dogs are inside a lot, so it's rather a menagerie. With their separate and distinct breeds, I couldn't help but wish for a dog family portrait. Shiloh would have to be front and center being so tall and glamorous, with the others posed around her. But this, of course, would be impossible really. They would never sit still long enough.

Unless there was toast. Toast might work. At six o'clock every morning, the dogs all get toast. With real butter. That's simply how each day begins on the ranch.

Just Workin' on the Blinds

I just returned from a trip to Montana. By myself. 1300 miles. I called my husband each evening and texted him occasionally throughout the day. Yesterday morning, at my departure, I forgot to text him that I was leaving. When I stopped by my sister's place, I called him to let him know where I was and asked how his Saturday morning was going. He said, "Fine. I'm just workin' on the blinds." This is what went through my mind: Often, he'll open the sliding glass door but leave the long vertical blinds in place rather than pulling them to the side. When a big wind comes up, the blinds get blown around, sometimes wildly, and I'm always afraid they are going to break off because that's what happened in one of our previous homes. So I'm always conscious about that and figured something had happened and now he was attempting a repair. So I asked, "Why are you working on the blinds?" And this was his response:

"Oh, you know, they are really dirty! I'm just cleaning them with the feather dusters and wiping them down. And there's a lot of sand and grit down in the runners where the window slides, so I'm vacuuming that out and wiping the rest of the dirt out with wet paper towels. The ones in the guest room are the worst!"

Blinds were never on my radar. We have not mentioned this or discussed this. Out of all the things he could be doing by himself on a Saturday morning, he decided to do this! Where did this man even come from? I don't know, but I found him in a cave and I'm never giving him back!

The Children Finished School Last Thursday and I Will Finish Today

So...people ask, "When's the last day of school?" And I answer, "The kids get out on the 31st and the last day for teachers is June 5th." People look at me funny. Then they ask, "Since when do the teachers have to stay at school longer than the kids in summer?" And I answer, "Oh, since about ten years ago when they started stealing our summer vacation." Now...I can't rightfully use the word stealing since you are not technically forced to attend. However, if you don't attend, your administrators notice, and even though they're not supposed to judge you or anything...they notice. Also, you don't get paid if you don't attend and the carrot they dangle here to persuade you to trade in a couple of non-contract days is money.

Inevitably, people ask, "When do you go back to school?" I will say, "The first day of school for the students is 20 August, but my first meeting is 10 August." Sometimes I see raised eyebrows.

Here's to the next 45 days "off" (one friend calls it seasonal unemployment) for summer vacation. I plan to read a lot of books relating to my curriculum and the fifth graders whom I teach (in hopes they will be inspired to read them as well). I plan to work on my language arts, math, and science curricula as well as some social studies. I will shop at Wal-Mart at 4 or 5 a.m. one morning in July to obtain the school supplies I need for my class this year. I always go that early so I can dig through all the notebooks and folders in order to get the colors I need. I still end up sweating even at that time of the day. I will volunteer at two National Park Service sites, adding to my background knowledge in geology so I can improve my teaching there.

Our contract days are 8 hours (7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. with 30 minutes off for a duty-free lunch). I will be "off" for 45 working days (normal work days, and I didn't count July 4th, a national holiday, or July 24th, a state holiday, or any weekend days). Those 45 working days multiplied by 8 hours each equals 360 hours. There's about 38 weeks in a school year, but let's just call it 36 weeks. Those 360 hours divided by 36 weeks equals about 10 hours per week. Those 10 hours per week divided by a 5 day work week comes out to 2 hours a day. I have already worked those 360 hours I'm about to get "off" throughout this past school year. On Memorial Day alone I spent 12 hours at school volunteering. The next day, I volunteered another 3 hours after I was off the clock. If you add up all the times teachers get to school before contract time, all the hours they stay late, and all the stuff they do on their own time at home in the evenings and on weekends, we have more than earned these 45 days of "summer vacation" as compensation time. I just don't want to hear those comments over and over about "Yeah, but you get the WHOLE summer OFF!" No, we really don't.

Or this comment, "You chose this profession. You knew what you were getting into." I like to think of myself as being "called" to this profession. And no, I didn't know exactly what I was getting into. But I love it. And that's why I keep doing it. This is not a rant. This is not complaining. This is just an explanation that teaching pretty much takes up my whole life which sort of leads to the bristling that occurs when people suggest it's just a job. It's when they "calculate" my hours that it sort of bugs me. So this morning I calculated a few hours to show evidence. My husband has only had jobs in our marriage that clock in and clock out. If he's not getting paid, he's not working. He doesn't spend any extra time at home preparing for the tasks he'll be doing at work. He hasn't taken any classes since I've known him, unless the government paid for him to do so. When he's off duty, he's off duty. He doesn't walk into visitor centers at national parks and exclaim, "Oh! I NEED this for work!" He doesn't even think about work when we recreate. There's a difference between teachers and non-teachers. Unless you're a teacher, you haven't experienced it.

Here's to my last day of "work!"

Memorial Day at School

I know. I should be at a cemetery or something, however, I have been at school since 7-something a.m. and I am getting so much done! What's more, my husband brought lunch and helped me for awhile. What's more, he's a custodian at a high school and he's really tall, so all the high places got dusted and organized. He also showed up with a couple of new plastic bins for organizing! Don't worry, there are plenty of jobs for the students to do over the next couple of days, but this feels so good and what's more, there's AIR CONDITIONING for today because it's automatically programmed for weekdays! Ha ha! I'm getting so much done with no children in the room! Almost giddy with joy! And yes, there is no pay for this time spent at school. I'm volunteering. No pay. No holiday pay. Just volunteering in my own classroom for my own sanity to remain intact over the next three days, after which I have professional development meetings.

The Broken Hiring System in the National Park Service

This is not a rant. This is simply an explanation. My husband, the park ranger, still finds permanent status with the fed an elusive business. He's great at being a seasonal park ranger and last summer he moved up a couple of grades, but now this year he's moving back down a couple of grades because of budget. We know a few people who have found perms--either they have moved around a LOT as a single ranger (not so conducive to our marriage) or they have something else going for them (non-caucasian, female, Schedule A illness/disability, Veteran). K has something going for him as well...a wonderful boss at a local high school. Thankfully, she takes him back whenever he shows up in town and she's happy to keep him as long as it takes the Department of Homeland Security to complete his background check.

So these background checks have to happen annually because the summer seasonal rangers separate from service each fall. Each background check costs the NPS around $1800. They don't care that K has had one every single year since 2001. They don't care how many times he's been fingerprinted or interviewed by a federal agent. They don't care that he has a stellar resume with glowing reviews. The rule is that because he's "new" every spring, they have to do another background check.

Another rule is that you can only work 1039 hours in a season. If you surpass that even by 15 minutes, you cannot have rehire status. This has been some kind of a rule for a really long time, but nobody enforced it until like February...just recently. K's big crime is that back in 2003 (I think) he was asked to work a bit longer in the season after the cave closed and that unknowingly tipped him over the 1039 for that one season and now in 2018...he has lost his "rehire status." So, he has had to begin from scratch, so to speak. He did his due diligence, applied for his old job successfully and was offered a position which he accepted. However, this new enforcement of this very old rule that no one realized they were breaking all those years ago, has created a big problem for the NPS. Rangers didn't find out that they couldn't be hired for their old job until after the hiring process was completed (no chance to apply for their old job which they thought they would be automatically rehired to do). Also, they say in the news that this "rule" hasn't been evenly applied throughout the country.

Bottom line is, there are a bunch of seasonal park rangers out there who would love to work, who have done all that's required of them, but they can't work...yet.

So we wait. This would have been the weekend we would have reported to the park. But because the ranger hasn't cleared, we're not allowed in, can't move into government housing, and can't work. We know a ranger from Washington who has worked 47 seasons and he's just hanging out in Seattle until he gets the call that he has cleared. His situation really cracks me up because a couple of summers ago he was coaching track while teaching high school science and asked if he could skip training in order to coach his kids at their state track meet (they got first in state). No, he was NOT allowed to skip training. So he dutifully reported to be trained for a job he had been doing for forty-something years and got photos texted to him of their big win. And now, he's retired, but training starts on Monday and they won't LET him come to training because he hasn't cleared his background check. Oh, the IRONY! We know a married couple from Florida who have been staying in their RV in Blackfoot, Idaho, just waiting to hear that they have clearance so they can buzz into the park and get started. I know a ranger who has his blue tubs stacked up by the front door so that he can load up and roll when he gets word.

I know a supervisor who is opening a visitor center on Friday, just in time for Memorial Day, with only three rangers who have cleared thus far. Maybe word will come soon.

Mother's Day Flowers and Such 2018

We had such a nice time over Mother's Day Weekend. We skipped town Friday afternoon and ate Prime Rib at Mom's Cafe in Salina. We stayed in a hotel that night, in Salina, due to the weather. Next day we headed for Fremont Indian State Park, a place we hadn't been since 2010. We enjoyed the short hikes here and there and appreciated the campground. It's just good to get out and see the petroglyphs and spring flowers and move the body a little...and get back to sleeping on the ground. Not pictured are about one hundred pelicans at Pelican Point--they were having a float meeting and then decided to take their business to the air. We visited the Fish Lake Cut Off on the Old Spanish Trail. We attended all the church meetings in Elsinore, lovely people and vibrant ward. We had a great, relaxing time, just the two of us. On Saturday night before turning in to the tent, we sat in the RAV 4 holding hands and talking. We talked for about an hour and a half. Running away together is one of the best things we do!

May Playground

So this is a burned wood chip from our school playground. It's a good thing I'm a sometimes observant playground duty guard because a child was using a magnifying glass and the sun to light wood chips on fire...which several other children thought was so fascinating. I watched it myself and saw smoke coming up. In fact, I still have this particular wood chip on my desk because it smells like a wood fire. And it makes me chuckle. Here's the thing...the child was convinced there was no way full on combustion could occur. I made it stop. You know, "not on my watch."

And this took me right back to Lana'i where I served as a Cub Scout Den Leader for the Webelos. As soon as I was off the clock on Wednesdays, I would head over to the church for Scouts. All my boys beat me over there every week of course, and some of them were in my fifth grade class. What do a bunch of boys do while waiting for their activity to begin? They light things on fire, of course. Same tactic--use a magnifying glass to direct the heat of the sun so that you can light your slippers (flip flops) on fire. Just watch that smoke curl upward! Again, fascinating.

Or you could always carve your initials into the green bananas growing on the tree in back of the church. They were impressed I carried my own pocket knife. When the bananas were ripe, we each ate the one with our own initials on it. Delicious. Carving bananas seemed okay to me. Lighting things on fire? Not so much.

We give the children back to their parents in two weeks. I hope they're ready.

He Really Likes His Treats

My husband has a sweet tooth the size of Texas. He has a treat cupboard in the kitchen that is too high for me to reach without taking extraordinary measures, so his stash is usually really safe from me.

Yesterday we visited the Elsinore Ward down by Richfield after camping, and they passed out those Utah truffle bars. I took the regular milk chocolate one and K was quite interested in my gift. Then he saw someone else with a mint chocolate bar and encouraged me to trade. Then he asked if I'd be interested in sharing. Uh huh. I always share my Mother's Day chocolate with him. I don't see a way around it.

So I'm still at school and just called him to see what our plans are for the evening. He mentioned that someone has dropped a treat off for me and there's a note with it--we don't know who. He described the treat as a "chocolate brownie with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips on top." I said, "You can eat it now. I don't need it." He said, "No, someone loves YOU and it's for YOU!" I said, "Just open the note and read it to me." He said, "No, you can open it when you get home."

And then he said, "The brownie looks really good though! We'll have to share it." I should have asked him to text a photo of it and then dive right in to eat it. He gets so excited about treats.

No Pics at the Moment but We Have a Happy Life and I Love My Husband

Just wanted to say that life is good. Last night, K had dinner in the oven when I got home from school. We swapped stories of the day and dug into Sunday Pork and Potatoes, the first meal he ever made for me which happened to be in May 2004. We watched a general conference talk for Family Home Evening and talked about being spiritually self reliant and receiving personal revelation. We then folded some laundry together which makes the folding of laundry so much more bearable because our conversations continued and the time flew. I flopped on the bed for awhile to continue reading the latest installment of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I had him carry a box of books to the kitchen table so I could begin wrapping them to give out to my class on the last day of school. We were watching a PBS program about the drought in California and how water in the western United States is a privilege AND a responsibility and we shouldn't be wasting one single drop--such nerds are we. Then he set some ice cream out to get a little soft and we ate that while watching the 10:00 pm news. I got to bed first and played Sudoku on my Kindle while waiting for him to brush his teeth. It was my turn to pray and I fell asleep TWICE during the prayer; he nudged me both times and somehow I finished. I just wanted to say, this is the good life! All these little things...are us. I am grateful.

Trip to Japan

Disclaimer: We got a new computer a year ago and a new camera as well. Since then, I've struggled to download/upload photos, organize them into these elaborate folders, and then find them again to put on the blog. The old way was easy peasy and the new way is complicated. Even the hubs has trouble...so much that he bought some extra photo program... So, this is not my best post and these are not my best photos, but I figured I should throw something up on the blog to document Japan in some way.

We left for Japan on Saturday 31 March. We flew from SLC to Denver and then took a 787 Dreamliner to Narita in Tokyo with United. We lived. Our friends, Sag and Yuki, picked us up at Narita which was more than generous considering they live 2 hours from the airport. We stayed at their home for 2 nights. I hadn't seen them since one of their trips to Utah, but I also saw them when they visited in Hawai'i. Sag was a missionary with me in Japan. He helped me get my meishi printed up when I first arrived in Fukuoka. Later, we served in Kagoshima together. And after that, Kumamoto. Yuki is the most lovely, strong, amazing person ever. I consider them to be a "power couple" in the church. Sag is bishop of his ward. He is still so Sag. They are darling and I hope they come to stay with us sometime. Basically, they fed us dinner and we went to bed, but not without flipping through the mission scrapbook. It was the nicest thing after that long, long flight to have some friendly faces there to pick us up, feed us, and take us home. They had two varieties of Kit Kat waiting there for Ken to welcome him. So thoughtful. All of this on Sunday 1 April, Easter Sunday, and General Conference! I cannot count their generosity. I posted pictures of them on Facebook (maybe someday I'll get all the photos from all the cameras for this one trip).

The next day we drove into Tokyo and drove around the temple. It's closed for renovations. We parked at a church site and walked to the train station. We took subways, the bus, a train, and a boat that day. They took us to the Imperial Palace, which you can't actually see...but the grounds are lovely, and then to a tower called Skytree. I remember Ken saying, "This is like visiting the White House. We had 360 degree views of Tokyo, the world's largest metropolitan area. After that, we went to Asakusa, the oldest temple/shrine (honestly, I can't keep track of which are Buddhist temples and which are Shinto shrines...apologies) and the market there. Then they took us to Osho's for dinner, the same restaurant chain they had back in Kagoshima back in the day. Karaage chicken. We also went to the supermarket to buy some onegai (requests) for other people. I told Sag and Yuki I needed to pick up a certain brand of mabudofu (mabodofu?) for Eric kun and then Sag went all Jewish mother on us by insisting we take Koala chan and Super Lemon back to Eric kun as well because Eric LOVES them. I loved watching this unfold because Sag loves Eric so much, as do I, and the Japanese heart of friendship cannot be held back from sending gifts and love. Once you've made a Japanese friend, you can count on them for anything. Loyal to the end.

On Tuesday 3 April, we said our goodbyes and Sag took us to the eki (station) in Yokohama to get on the bullet train (shinkansen). We felt confident about everything, but he insisted on buying a ticket so he could accompany us to the platform and ensure we made it onto the correct train. I really hope I have a chance to pay these people back. We rode to Kyoto, looking for Mount Fuji along the way, but couldn't see it for the smog (same situation from Skytree). At Kyoto station, we grabbed some lunch and then headed out to find our hotel which was a short walk, about 5 minutes. Thank you, GPS. There was a post office there, so I stopped to buy and mail a postcard to a former student, a sixth grader, who called out to me in the hallway one day, "I hear you're going to Japan! Send me a postcard!" So I did. He gave me a thank you note the other day...with a dollar bill inside...??? Our hotel room was predictably small, but wonderfully air conditioned, a reprieve from our first couple of days in country--warm and humid, sweating all the time. We were not wearing jackets and Sag and Yuki kept asking us if we were cold. Nope. Not cold. We dropped our luggage and went out to play. We boarded a Skybus, a double decker, and it was a sunny day, even cool with the breeze generated by the speed of the bus. We had earbuds for the ridiculously poor English transcript, however, this sweet ride allowed us to get the lay of the land and see several temples and shrines...and sakura, the cherry blossoms. When we returned to the eki, Ken asked if we could go back to an area we saw on the tour in order to walk amongst the sakura. And so we did. We are Team Kyburz and as Ken stated on the trip, "You translate, I navigate!" So we bought tickets for smaller trains and got off at one station in order to walk all the way to the next station along the river, in the late afternoon light. It was beautiful, soothing, and picturesque. Mr. Six Foot Three was so grateful to stretch his legs after feeling cramped since he boarded the airplane. It all soothed his soul. And as if that weren't blessing enough, right near the next train station was a McDonald's! So he ordered a McTeriyaki Burger with Fries and found it to be quite tasty. When we got back to Kyoto Station, we looked at some of the restaurants, but decided that we would just grab some snacks at Lawson, a favorite convenience store (konbini) from living in country years ago. He got ice cream and I found some nikuman and rice balls. Oh, and Banana Cream cake.

The next morning, we caught another shinkansen to Hiroshima. If you go to Japan and plan to take even one train ride say from Tokyo to Kyoto and back to Tokyo again, it's completely worth it to get the Japan Rail Pass. You have to buy it before you leave the states. They send you a voucher (ours arrived Fed Ex from London) and then once you get to the Narita airport, you go down to the JR office in the basement and they give you your pass. You can make reservations if you upgrade to Green Car which turned out to be really slick and very nice. There's plenty of room for your luggage, the seats are way comfy, and you can charge your phone en route. We also road the bullet train in the regular cars without reservation--no chargers, but we lived. The shinkansen is so fast. I remember riding trains for HOURS between cities, but these bullet trains are incredibly swift and smooth. I highly suggest the JR Pass. It was worth the money! Also, the signs at train stations are in Japanese as well as English, so Ken could have gotten around without my help...it's just that my ability to speak Japanese really made things go smoothly. So we got to the Hiroshima Eki and stashed our luggage in the the coin lockers there--sweet! Travel really is so easy in Japan. Then we took a little street car (small train on railroad tracks) through the city to the Dome. The Peace Memorial Park is a World Heritage Site and we had a lovely couple of hours walking around there. Yes, quite somber. We toured the museum and I became so weepy. It was the photo of the three year old cute, chubby boy and his warped and melted tricycle that really got to me. I'm not political and wise and learned about international affairs, but my heart is drawn to other humans, especially children, and Hiroshima really hurt.

We got back to the eki and took the shinkansen to Kumamoto, my "home town." I loved all of my cities while living in Japan, but I served in Kita Kumamoto as well as Kumamoto and spent the majority of my mission in that city, therefore, Kumamoto is Home. Sachiko, Ken has met her several times as she visits here frequently, picked us up at the station and drove us around: cemetery, 100 yen store, out to eat, the mall, supermarket, etc. and then home. She built her own house several years ago. The one I visited before (her parents' home) was destroyed in the 2016 earthquakes. We enjoyed sleeping again on futons which are of course, on top of the traditional tatami mats (bamboo). Ken was getting to compare and contrast this Japanese home to Sag's and Yuki's. I can't believe we only had one night in a hotel!

On Thursday 5 April, Sachiko took us to Aso-Kuju National Park, the site of the active volcano known as Nakadake. We saw so much evidence of the earthquakes. The volcano had been acting up lately, so the photos show how close we were able to get without inhaling noxious gasses. The rest of the park was beautiful and there was a sakura festival taking place near a 400 year old cherry tree. We ate takoyaki (octopus), yakisoba, yakiniku, and toriniku, and ice cream.

We returned to Sachiko's home that afternoon to change clothes. She took us to the eki and we rode to Fukuoka eki to catch a taxi to the Fukuoka Temple. Before the taxi we grabbed some KFC. Ken had been a good sport about all the strange Japanese food, so I never minded his requests for American fast food. This temple was built in 2000 on the site of my old mission home. It was great to do a session there, see all the changes, and run into the temple president, Tashiro Kyodai. At Sachiko's suggestion, we asked if they could call a taxi for us, but Brother Shibata stepped in and dropped us off at the eki, which saved us 1700 yen. He is 75 years old.

On Friday 6 April, Sachiko drove us to another national park, Unzen-Amakusa National Park. Amakusa is several islands connected by five bridges. Ken had to touch the water of the East China Sea. It was rainy, but we didn't care...we got out to walk here and there. On the way back, Sachiko showed us the seaweed farm--in the water. They plant the seaweed seeds onto sticks in the water and grow it in the winter. The harvest had just finished. They harvest and dry the seaweed and then package it for selling. I never knew all the sticks in the water were a seaweed farm. By the way, Sachiko is the nicest ever and we will never be able to repay her. But we will certainly try.

That evening we had dinner with the Saruwatari Sisters, Kyoko and Katsue. They have both been to my classroom here in Utah. They are the nicest people and enjoyed meeting Ken san. We all exchanged gifts (they requested mint chocolate, Jell-o, and Kool-Aid). I hope they will also come stay with us.

On Saturday 7 April, our last day in country, we stayed around Kumamoto. We went to both churches where I served. We walked to the kamitori and the shimitori to meet Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto. He hugged us and everything. We went to Suizenji park...so beautiful...and to Kumamoto Castle, heavily damaged by the earthquakes--will take 20 years to put it back together again. Then we met Nitta Takayasu Kyodai for dinner. I tracted him out with my "spiffy" door approach back in the day. He was on the phone with someone but wanted to know more. We had no idea he had been studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses for quite some time. While still holding the phone and saying, "I'm not busy," I taught him and told him we'd be bringing a couple of guys back with us the next time (we weren't allowed to teach single men). I looked at all the elders in my district and decided that Weeks Choro (Eric kun) was my best bet, so I handed Nitta over to him. Nitta told me he remembered me "loaning" him a copy of the Book of Mormon, saying that I'd come back for it. When he saw me again, I told him he could keep it a bit longer. And of course, finally, I told him to keep it. I remember none of that. Nitta got baptized, served in the Kobe mission, married a member in the temple, they've raised four children, two of whom are also returned missionaries. He serves on the high council and his wife serves as stake Primary president. This is the fruit of my mission. When I came home, people asked, "How many people did you baptize?" And I truthfully answered, "None."

On Sunday 8 April, Sachiko took us to the Kumamoto station for the last time so we could catch our last shinkansen to Fukuoka. From there, we took the subway to the airport. At the airport, we got on the shuttle bus and made it to security. We flew to Narita where we had to go through security again. From there we flew to San Francisco where we had to go through security again. And customs. And from there, we flew to SLC. We drove home and forced ourselves to stay awake until 8 or 9 pm. The jet lag has lasted two weeks. It's been a bit rough, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I loved speaking Japanese again. And eating all the foods. And seeing my old home. And some old friends. I can't believe I got to go back. I loved being a tourist as well, but for me, it's all about the people. It is such a pleasure to see how strong they've been all this time in the gospel. They are ganbatteiru!"

My cup runneth over. Blessed. So blessed.