Emmaus at 6ish months...

Here are a few updated pics of the "not-so-baby"..cause he's such a big boy...

I can't tell if I like it better in B & W or color...so here they both are.

Future Interpreter?

I love this little boy. 

a day off...

I've noticed for the past two weeks that my fridays feel like a day off, even though I'm working at least 6 hours...

I think it's because I don't have to go to the second job...(although the extra hours aren't bad at all.)

so yea for getting a "day off!"

NIC Performance test: Sept 7th

I took my national certification performance test for interpreting. 

If I pass this, I can work in any state, and they recognize me as a professional interpreter.  (Plus I get some extra compensation through my work(s))

What does this mean for me?  Why did I take it?

I want to see if I'm "good enough" to pass the test.  I've heard from a lot of people that this is a valid test.  I want to see what "they" think about my skills.  Not so say if I don't pass that I suck, but I want to see what they say.

It also means that I'm confident enough to take the test.  Some people have no desire to take the national test.  It's always been a goal of mine.  I want to see if I have what it takes.  I passed the written NIC so this was the logical next step.

I'm grateful for my friends and family that have been so encouraging to me through this whole process.  I'd never thought that I'd be a sign language interperter when I grew up.  I love it.  I love the language, I love the process. I love the work.

Now I wait.

Up to 12 weeks for my results. 

We'll see what "they" say....

Until then...

Jake's Birthday

The big 3-0.

We went river rafting on the Provo river....it might not sound exciting compared to the Snake River in Jackson Hole, but WOW, it was SOOO beautiful.

I DIDN'T get any pics.  I was nervous that my camera would get wet, but really, it wouldn't have. I didn't get that info till after we were already on the river. The provo canyon is soooo beautiful. I'm going to post a pic from the internet so you know how awesome it was.

This is about what it looked like last friday. I found out there also that we could have taken Emmaus with us. There was another lady with a baby who got off the river as we were getting on. It'super calm.  Nothing higher than a class 2, and I'm not sure there was even a 2 on there. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I rode on the raft with Angelina and the kids, Jake and the rest of our group rode in kayaks. 

Then we ate at burgers and shakes. 

 Jake had a chocolate chip cookie dough shake, i had brownie. 

then we went and saw...

Well, I saw it, Jake starred in it.

then we stayed late and watched

(Jake recently auditioned for laughin stock...and got accepted to attend their workshops and classes. he's really stoked to get the opportunity to work on his improv. Yea honey!)

My parents were nice enough to watch emmaus for us.  AND they were the reason we were able to go rafting....yea for watching out for coupons! Thanks mom and dad, and angelina and josh, and the kids, and melinda and ezra for watching emmaus while we were on the river.

It was the longest time that both jake and I were away from the baby, but he had fun, and did a great job!

yea for birthdays!

(Jake got some tools for his birthday, and a hose for the house...fun times being a home owner...thanks mom and dad U for the gift.)

Eubanks Visit Part 2

We got to our KOA site and waited for Gma and Gpa to show up ...and Uncle Andrew. 

That night we all sort of hung out and just enjoyed being toether. We ate nummy spaghetti...(apparently this is what people make when you have a lot of mouths to feed.)  I can't remember if we tried to play a game that night....

I think we were more focused on Smores.  Macey's sells these Campfire marshmellows that are 4 times the size of a regular mallow.  Most people decided after using them on their smores that they were too big...and messy...but I think that is the epitome of  smores eh? I like the extra gooey...mmm mmmm good.

Then the fun began.
The strangest thing happened with this group.  No one really had an agenda.  Meaning...everyone was cordial and didn't really care how things went.  They just enjoyed themselves and went with the flow.  We were discussing what time to get going for the first morning.  The decision: Dawn.  So we did it. We were up and going by 5. (I got up with Emmaus at 4 to make sure he was fed and changed and ready to go by the time everyone else was.)

We were going to do the upper loop first...to avoid Old Faithful until the 2nd day.  But the road to Norris was closed until 8...so south it was. It was really foggy still...kind of fun for pics..

We stopped at some geyers...

Derrick spotted some animals...he's really good at that...Saw a Bald Eagle.

..they saw some Bison and Coyote...we didn't see the coyote..but saw their pic of it.  We were just in time for OF...only had to wait a few minutes.  I don't think I actually saw OF with my naked eye cause I was so busy taking pics of it.  Typical.

We ate cereal on some picnic benches and headed off to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Falls. Passing Lake Yellowstone first.

Lake Yellowstone is also quite a site. Being that we left so early, jake took a snooze in the car and missed the whole lake. I'm trying to remember what else we saw that day...

We weren't quite sure which direction to go, so we hiked towards the falls. It was pretty, and sooo big. and deep.  I didn't expect to see something like that in the Park.But first we were stopped by a herd of Buffalo. We got quite the show. Including 2 Bison that rammed eachother, charging and nearly colliding with an RV.  Fortunately they stopped shy of hitting anything. It was quite intimidating. We were only a few cars away from the action.It's not everyday that you have an aminal THIS size crossing the street in front of your car!

And then there was the waterfall:

(the umbrellas aren't from the falls, it startedd raining.)

OH YEAH: after the waterfall we were about to drive out of the parking lot, when I saw people congregating towards something called Artists Point.  I wanted to run down real quick, so the 2 cars parked again  and Jeannine and I ran over there to see what the view was like. It was beautiful.  It was the same waterfall we had hiked towards, but it had the view of the river coming out of it.  SOOO worth it.

and sooo croweded, but the pics were fantastic.  Yea for having the freedom to stop and not be in such a hurry that you can't.  That's one of my pet peeves on road trips.  When you are driving and you see something you'd like to check out or stop to take a pic, but you are in too big a hurry to look at it.  It happens too often...I think for our future trips, i want to add 2 hours onto our travel time for those kind of things.  It makes the journey as much fun as the destination..isn't that an important part of life? 

We hit a bit of construction..(can you believe it...construction in yellowstone..wow, you can never get away from it.)  on our way back to the KOA. We were all wasted from getting up so early. We tried to stop at a few turn offs, but either the signs weren't clear...or we missed it cause of the construction. 

(Mule deer.)

We got back for dinner. Jake and I were heating the wings on the campfire..it was slow going...and we wound up microwaving part of them for speed purposes.  Again an amazing day. Ended with birthday cupcakes...hostess style.