this one's for the girls

(This post is for my small group. I am missing our annual get together tonight. However, I thought I would post it here on our blog for others to enjoy as well)

Dear girlies,

I wish I could be there with you tonight at our annual get together. Hopefully, you haven’t managed to get Toki smashed yet. I’M KIDDING! Since, I cannot make it this year, I thought I would quickly update you on what is going on here in our life down south.

Here it goes....

Obviously, a lot has changed in the last 6 months since we have last gotten together. I graduated in December with my Master’s of Arts in Teaching and did lots of substitute teaching in the Eugene & Springfield School Districts. My favorite moment was when I got to sub in the room next door to my dad. I think co-teaching with his daughter made the old man cry a little. Anywho....I applied for teaching jobs like crazy all over Oregon, everywhere from Eugene to Po-dunk, Oregon and didn’t even manage to get a single interview. I finally decided to look at some places outside of Oregon and of course thought about Yuma, only 20 miles from my favorite little town of Islitas, Mexico. Long story short, I got a kindergarten teaching position at a fabulous school here in Yuma. Within a month of accepting the job, here we are...living in Yuma, searching for rentals, and setting up my cute little kindergarten classroom. Here is a picture of what it looks like so far.....

(Note: There a tons of pictures in the previous blog post)

So far, we are loving Yuma (but missing our family and friends, of course). We are weirdos who absolutely love the heat. Seriously though, you all need to come visit! Nothing beats floating down the warm Colorado river or enjoying dinner outside on a nice warm Arizona evening. I vote that for our December reunion, you all make a road trip south. It’ll be sunny and 75! Any takers?

On another note, Wes and I will celebrating our 1-year wedding anniversary on August 7th. We have had the best year together. I’m telling you girls, there is nothing better than being married to your best friend. I’m sure Lacey can agree on this one. We are excited for this new chapter in our lives. Feel free to read this blog to stay updated on our random adventures.

We love and miss you all,

McKenzie (Wes says hi too!)

a week in review

What a crazy week it has been. Wait, can you believe it’s only been a week? In one week’s time, Wes and I have managed to drive 19 hours to Yuma, drive another 200+ miles searching for housing around Yuma, and arrange an entire classroom. Somehow, through it all, we’ve still found time to laugh together, float the Colorado river (twice!), and enjoy one another’s company (even if we have spent the last straight 168 hours together).

And so now.........ladies and gentleman...........I present to you.......... MY CLASSROOM!

Monday, Day 1: Arrive, meet Becky (principal), and rearrange furniture more times than Brett Favre has retired from the NFL. Seriously.

Tuesday, Day 2: Let the organizing begin!

Wednesday, Day 3: Slowly, things begin taking shape.

Thursday, Day 4:

Day 5: My room is nearly finished. Here it is!

cubbies waiting for little backpacks to arrive

a carpet ready for calendar time, tons of read alouds, block playing, etc

the reading corner (my favorite part of the room)

my "McKenzie-sized" desk. It is so short!

the bulletin board outside my room ready for kindergarten artwork

Oh, and P.S. This is what we get to wake up to every single morning. Pretty amazing, eh?

P.P.S. These also fly by everyday (note: We live near a marine base). Wes is in love. He runs outside in his undies just to get a glimpse of these babies.

another case of the stickies

Ok, I promise this is the last post I will do about the meteorologist, but seriously this man should consider a career in unintentional comedy. Ironically, he also sounds a bit like Jim Carey. Well, more like Ace Ventura. Here is the legend himself, Rob Fram.

We literally look forward to the 10 o'clock news just to listen to what this man is going to say next. Here are a few quotes from last night.

-“I’m going to keep both shoes on for this weather report because it looks like we’ve got another case of the stickies”

-“high pressure ruling the roost yet again”

On a totally different note, I have been a slave-driver and making Wes work all day in my classroom starting at 6 am. That's the earliest Martina and Martina will let us in. Yes, both my custodians names are Martina. Big Martina. Little Martina. They are adorable.

We are SLOWLY getting my room ready for the kiddos. So much stuff to do. Wes has been incredible and has learned more teacher jargon than he probably ever wanted to. "Word Wall", "positive behavior plans", "die cutter" are three of Wes' new phrases. Seriously though, he has been the best husband ever. Please be sure to take care of him when he comes back to Eugene in August. He deserves lots of pampering. Just look at the torture I put him through....

We'll post more pictures of my classroom once it is a little less chaotic. It's takes time to create the "cuteness factor" of a kindergarten room. Wes is just the man for the job.

a case of the muggies

As the days pass by, we are slowly learning some of the joys of living in Yuma. One of those joys is the ridiculously cheesy local meteorologists.

Here are his two best lines from last night that had Wes and I rolling around laughing.

"Look's like tomorrow we'll have a case of the muggies"

"Look's like we'll be waking sunny-side up mañana!"

Besides watching the 10 o'clock news (yes 10, not 11...this is old folk town), we have been working on my classroom. Pictures will come soon, once we have a somewhat finished product.

After working at the school all day, our evenings consist of floating the river, searching for rentals, and of course watching our favorite meteorologist.

Where are the refried beans?

Whew. Today can be described in 3 words..........

EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER.

At some points I found myself beyond excited about the adventure before us, while at other points of the day I found myself asking that daunting question: Did I really just move away from everything familiar, my family, and my dearest friends?

We had a wonderful morning.....

exploring the desert's natural beauty

dipping our feet in the pleasantly warm Colorado River

and admiring the Southwest’s old architecture and history.

We spent the midday searching for rentals and making a trip to the grocery store. This is where the emotional roller-coaster began. After searching the store aimlessly for refried beans, I finally found myself asking Wes loudly, “Where in the world are the refried beans!?!?!?”. This ridiculous frustration allowed me to realized how comfortable we get in our hometown routines. The simple fact that I didn’t know my way around my local grocery store was driving me nuts. Little things like this make you feel like you are “home”. I’m sure this feeling will come with time, it just made me realize what a BIG move this really is. Not just a quick trip to Mexico. A big move. A big adventure.

Ok. Back up to the positive part of the rollercoaster. We finished the evening by continuing the DeBow Sunday tradition of going out for pizza. Traditions are good for big transitions.

Da Boys Italian Cuisine

After pizza, we enjoyed a walk around the amazing downtown buildings and along the river.

Oh, and a stop at my new favorite frozen yogurt place, of course!

Bienvenido a Yuma

We are here! After 18+ hours on the road, various bathroom stops for McKenzie's small bladder, and 1163.4 miles, we have made it to Yuma!

Our trip started at the crack of dawn, 5 am. Our first planned destination was In N Out in Redding. Ironically though we were making such incredible time, that we realized we would be arriving in Redding just after 10. We figured we were on an adventure and why not eat at 10:30?We'd been up since 4!!!!

In N Out opened precisely at 10:30 and we were there just in time. 10:29.

Yes, we documented this.

We enjoyed a nice, yet early meal. We thought we'd be the only ones, but the place was packed.

We continued on the road, rocked out to music, took more bathroom breaks, and made our way smoothly down I-5, Hwy 50 and Hwy 99.

We finally stopped in Bakersfield for Wes to admire Merle Haggard Blvd and Buck Owen's Crystal Palace. Oh, and to stop for ice cream. Healthy day of eating, eh? Due to the 108 degree weather, everyone crowded inside, except for Los Bryants of course. We sat outside, enjoyed the 108 degree weather, and ate our dripping cones.

We continued on Hwy 99 to Hwy 58 to Hwy 395 to I-15 to I-215 to I-10 to Hwy 86 to I-8 to.....drumroll please.........YUMA, ARIZONA. Not to mention, Wes drove the entire thing. Stud.

We made it. Almost. We arrived at our friend Glen's house and began following his well-detailed instructions. However, while walking into the backyard to turn on the power, a wonderful, high pitched motion-detector alarm began to sound. Oops. Glen forgot to mention this in his instructions. In order to stay alive and not cause chaos on our first night, we headed to a motel of the night .

As for today, Sunday....We have successful turned off the alarm and unloaded the car. Ironically, as we sit in the Starbucks to update this blog, it is raining despite the 99 degree weather. Did we bring this rain with us? Oops.

Moral of the story:

We are safe and sound, wearing sunscreen, searching for rentals, and exploring our new home.

Adios Oregon!

The bags are packed.

The trunk is beyond full.

The desert is calling.

Adios Oregon.

We love you all!

McKenzie "Spills" DeBow

The other night Wes and I made home-made pizzas. I couldn't help but notice the drastic differences between our plates (mine of the left, his on the right).

When I was little my dad wanted to legally change my name to "McKenzie Spills DeBow" because of my uncanny ability to spill everything imaginable. Still to this day, I'm quite talented at spilling things. The reason I bring this up, is because upon snapping this photo, I found myself wondering...

"Hmmm, whose going to spill more this year? Me or my kindergarteners?" (trust me, this is a reasonable question)

I'll get back to you on that later.

bittersweet

As the days pass by way too quickly, the boxes pile up way too high in the living room, and moving day inches up too soon, things become a little more, shall we say, BITTERSWEET.

I am beyond excited for our move, but am also sad to be saying goodbye to my wonderful family, friends, work, and life as we know it in Eugene, Oregon.

Enough with the sad stuff though. Here's something cool. I managed to find the most amazing garage sale EVER. They had everything a first year kindergarten teacher could imagine....books galore, geoboards, pocket charts, games, etc., etc., etc. Just look.......

Not only did they let me walk away with all this stuff for $25, but they also gave me and my new treasures a ride home, since I had the brilliant idea of riding my bike to the sale.

My kindergarteners and I will be forever grateful for the kindness of these teachers who managed to throw the perfect garage sale, just for us.