Two Became One

On July 29th, 2006 Miles and I tied the knot. It was the happiest day of our lives. We were married at the Glendora Country Club. The wedding was a small family wedding that was simple but elegant. The colors were sunset colors and the theme was butterflies. It was the making of a wonderful day.
The night before the wedding Miles and I stayed the night apart from each other. I then had to hide out that morning as the guest arrived and as Miles was setting things up. He dashed off to get ready and it was nearly time to start.
My father and I held arms as he walked me up a winding staircase to the ceremony. I did not even make it in the room when I saw Miles standing at the end of the isle. Miles looked incredibly handsome is his tux. He started to cry. That made me start to tear up. He looked wonderful. When my eyes met his, I knew that he was the person I had been waiting for all my life. I could not help but smile the whole time. Miles and I just kept looking at each other during the ceremony. We shared whispers of," I love you." "You look beautiful." "You look handsome." And I few more," I love you.". The ceremony went great and it was time for pictures and then the reception. The rest of the day flew by. Good food, good conversations, and lots of hugs and kisses with my new husband. It was wonderful.

The very handsome Mr. Hanshaw

The Brand new Mrs. Hanshaw!

My Parents Alan and Penny. My Brother Eric.
The Hanshaw family. Left to right, Loren, Lucinda, Brianne,

Ken, Me, Miles, Rita, Michael, Quintin, Grandma LaVon.

Off to the Honeymoon!

The following day Miles and I headed to Maui. I had never been to the islands before. I was amazing. The hotel was top notch. Waterfalls, flamingos, koi fish, and flowers awaited us as we checked into the hotel. I fell in love with the feel of the island. We had some excursions planned for the trip. One was to take a boat trip on Trilogy to snorkel and tour Lanai.
Miles knew I wanted to see sea turtles so we planned another snorkel trip to Molokini to see more fish and then to Turtle Rock to see the sea turtles. I saw 4 turtles. It was wonderful! I was smiling from ear to ear.
Lastly we did the bike ride. We got up at 1:45AM to drive out to be at the bike shop at 3AM. Then an hour drive up to the top of Haleakala to watch the sun ride. We then had to ride down the volcano to the bike shop. We stopped at a restaurant to enjoy the view of up country Maui as we ate breakfast. We made it back to the bike shop at 9AM. Not to bad. That left us with time to drive around Maui. We stopped at a winery to enjoy a few of their wines and to look around. We also did part of the road to Hana. We covered the island in our little jeep. It was wonderful. We saw so many beautiful things.
To sum it up, we laughed and smiled. We slept in and got up at the crack of dawn. We went all over the island, and did not leave the hotel. It was a very romantic, relaxing, and the best vacation I have ever had. Best of all, it was with my wonderful new husband that I love more than anything. I cant wait to go back.

Happy 4th

Mom, Eric, Auntie Linda, Miles and I made our way to enjoy the long holiday weekend. It was a nice hot weekend. Perfect for floating and dipping your feel in the lake. We started off our trip with the Loggers Jamboree, an annual event in North Fork. We watched people cut logs, toss axes, and jump over logs. If you think that might be interesting, you should see the folks that come to the show. You have your locals, and your back woods people. There is a large Indian population in the town also. It was a mix of just about everyone. I loved people watching.




I don’t know how long it has been since I have been to Bass Lake during the Fourth of July. They have a wonderful firework show on the lake. They have a dock that they float out on the water that is the launch pad for the wonderful fireworks. The bright colors light up the night ski and sparkle off the water. The thunderous boom echoes through the canyon like nothing I have ever heard. The feel of America is everywhere. There is a parade of boats that have flags and lights all over them that start the show. They circle the lake as everyone waves from the shorelines. Most cabins have flags and banners of red, white, and blue. It has been a long time since I have seen so many American flags. It was nice to see.















We spent most of our time hanging out on the dock, feeding ducks, getting sun burnt, and taking the Waverunner out. Linda took a turn out on the Waverunner for the first time.
Miles and Eric went for a bike ride on mountain trails. Seems they ran into some hunters that inspired them to peddle faster. Hahahaha





I have yet to find a place that I love more than Bass Lake. It could be all the childhood memories. Maybe it is the feel of total relaxation. I don’t know, but I love how I feel when I am there. It’s nice to see that Miles is getting into the grove of how to enjoy the lake. It’s pretty much these simple steps. First wake up early to take the waverunner out on the glassy water. Then come back for breakfast. Veg out for a while, and then pack your lunch/snacks and head to the dock. Hang out there napping and reading a good book/magazine. Then come home at about 4PM to take a shower and a nap. Have a wonderful dinner, maybe catch a movie, watch TV and off to bed. Repeat. :- )
We did take walks, go for swims, and bounce around on the waverunner for some exercise.
It was a great weekend.

My Wonderful Brother

Many of you have not met my brother yet. I am lucky to have someone as special as him for a brother. He is a graphic designer and has a gift for photography. One of my favorite things is looking at the pictures he takes. He has a blog, (that's how I got started on all this) and post his pictures there. Well, pictures and his thoughts. Now I know what goes on in that head of his. Impressive really. I am surprised at all the places and things he knows about. I aspire to look into the world around me like he does. Enjoy his Blog and the wonderful pictures he takes. Oh and check out the Elvis party my family went to.
Thanks for being a great brother Eric! :-)

"Schools Out For Summer"

Another year at Lake Center Middle School is over.
It's been a long, but good school year. I was lucky to have a total schedule change this year. I used to teach four periods of 7th graders and one period of 8th. This year brought me three periods of 6th graders, one 7th, and one 8th. I was a little nervous about the 6th graders. From what I have seen they are high maintenence. They need help with everything. To my surprise, I loved teaching them. They are excited about doing just about anything I could come up with.
The start of the school year was a tough one. Class sizes were out of control. My biggest class was seventy-two 6th graders, all bouncing off the wall with energy.
There was also the principal from hell. I think it was her mission in life to make all the hard working teachers one by one give up all hope. That was the first time I had ever, not wanted to come to work. That's pretty bad. I am happy to say that she left during the first quarter of this school year. Not without leaving the school over drawn with it's budget, programs cut, and good people that were run off.
The new principal filling in turned out to be great. What a difference a day makes. I swear the day the wicked witch left, the clouds opened up and the sun started to shine. The new principal turned out to be very nice, opened minded, and carried a big stick. I remember the first staff meeting after she got there, we were still sorting out problems from the Wicked Witch. The staff was collecting legal reasons why our grades could not be done by a certain time, and that p/ contract we had till "X" date to turn things in. Then one person said," Why don't we just ask her?" You could hear a pin drop at that moment. We were so used to having to go to legal reasons why we wanted to do stuff, we forgot how to just ask for something that made perfect sense. I'm glad that time period is over.
We also got a new teacher to the PE department. She had never taught before and was doing her student teaching when they hired her to help with the zoo we called PE. She turned out to be a fine addition to the department.
The school year was flying by until that fateful day when with only 20 minutes of class till school got out, it started to rain when my students were on a run. As my students all ran to the locker room to get dry and then go home, I thought nothing of it. I ran track in rain, snow, and even hail. Well, the next day, Physo Mom called and told a tall tale of how her daughter was on one lung and very ill because she ran in the rain. That was a nightmare. She was 100% off her rocker. That lasted about 3 weeks. I' m happy to say that I got the last word. Soon after I found the girls PE clothes left in the locker room. All lost PE clothes go in a basket in my office. Not this time. I just smiled to a co-worker and dropped them in the trash. There was only a few months of school left, and she was going to graduate. She had to buy a new set of clothes just to finish the school year. HA! My small, but satisfying revenge.





I also chaperoned 80+ eight-graders to the D.C. trip again this year. I had a blast! I love that trip. We get to see so many cool things. I look forward to it next year.

Only 3 days after my return from that trip (May 23) I get a frantic call from Miles. Our little girls (dogs) Bailey and Sonoma have been attached by two pit bulls. I drove with my lights flashing, as I broke just about ever vehicular law there is. I came home to find the pit bulls still in my yard. They had broken my fence down. The neighbor across the street sprayed the dogs with pepper spray was was hitting them with a stick to get them off the girls. I'll give you the short version of what happened. Bailey had many external wounds. Sonoma was mostly internal. Bailey had to have three surgery so far. I think that's the last of it. Her neck had a life threatening wound, but her hip took the worse damage. Sonoma almost did not make it, but is now doing really well considering. Both are still sore and Bailey still has stitches. I am very thankful that I still have both of them in my life. They would not have been if the neighbor had not risked all to help them. Bailey is 10 and Sonoma is 2 1/2. Oh, and the cost of the dog's vet bills has pretty much reached 10K. We are still waiting for the report to come in so we can talk to the owner about the mounting vet bills that we had to pay. The owner had come to pick up his dogs from my house, saw me with my bleeding dogs, and has yet to say anything to us. This is going to be a long battle.
June has flown by. With all the DC stuff, and dog problems, I have been squeaking in wedding things. Bit by bit Miles and I have pretty much covered most the things we have to do. Only 5 more weeks till the big day! July 29th! I am really looking forward to it. That and the honeymoon in Muau. I have never been there and cant wait to see how pretty it is there.
As I sit here writing this recap of my school year I think back to the time when I was in school. The last day of school was a fun, but sad one. I missed my friends, but would look forward to reruns of Gilligans Island, and the long hot trip to Bass Lake. Most of of the time was spent in the back of the truck in 90+ degrees waiting to see if the truck would break down. Only the occasional crazy moment of the parents yelling across the gas station to tell how much money to give them and what number pump. Awwwwww memories.
Here is to another school year behind me and one small (I said small right?) step up the pay scale.
Now, where did I put my Margaret?