Long time away

It seems like I've been away from my blog for a long time, and I have.
My last post was on Nathan's field trip. Since then, as most of you know, I have had surgery and have been unable to really do much of anything. On May 15th I went in for a hemorrhoidectomy. Was not something I was looking forward to at all, but they had gotten much worse these last few months. I will spare you the details, but lets just say it was the worse pain I have ever been in. Period! So glad that I am feeling better. The surgeon told me that I would hate him for two weeks after the surgery, and he was right!
Yesterday was my two week mark, and I was feeling much better than I had even the day before. I went out to eat with Allen and then grocery shopping. First time out of the house in two weeks! It felt great!! Greg was playing in the band last night at the High School graduation and Nathan and Sarah were out at the circus with Grandma and Grandpa Rundle. So we had a nice quiet dinner out.
Sarah told me this morning that I looked like my old self again...not sure how I was looking before that! Maybe it's just that I am walking more normal now (no more old lady shuffle) and I'm actually up doing things. Allen said it was good to have me back too. He said these last two weeks brought back memories of his bachelor days, with having to do all the cooking, picking up around the house, grocery shopping, and laundry. Poor guy!! He really took good care of me though! My parents came over for 3 days last week to help with taking the kids to school and picking them up. They also did a good job of taking care of me during the day. We've had neighbors, family and friends all helping out with bringing over food too. Sure did appreciate all the help and support.
Things are definitely looking up now. Looking forward to taking a vacation in a couple of weeks. Greg decided to not take a summer class this year, his counselor kind of advised him not to. So we are free to go to Gatlinburg after all!!! Yeah!
I am taking a class next week on Differentiated Instruction in the classroom. It's too keep my license up to date. Also hoping it will help with getting a teaching job here for next year. Our school system is requiring all their teachers to take this class, so thought I might as well do it now.
Need to also start thinking about having a garage sale and need to get our pool passes bought! Guess summer is here!

Field Trip

Today I went with Nathan on his school field trip. We went to Notre Dame. I went last year with Sarah and really enjoyed the tour so decided to go again this year with Nathan. The lunch was a big pull in whether I went also! They have the most awesome lunch hall. It is the biggest buffet I have ever seen. There are several different tables, all with different ethnic food. There is Italian, Mexican and Chinese. They will stir fry up just about anything you can imagine. Also pizza table, grill table (hot dogs, hamburgers), a couple of different salad bars, soup bar, ice cream bar, dessert bar, breakfast bar, and then a home style bar with food like steak, pork chops, veggies, mashed potatoes...stuff your mom would cook at home. Plus every drink under the sun. All of this we had access to for our lunch! They gave us a whole hour to eat, so we were able to make many trips!!

The boys in my group saw a student eating and they just knew that he had to be a football player because of the size of his arms. They finally got the nerve to go ask him, and he was. So then they talked to him for a little bit and got his autograph. I'm sure they made his day! Not sure what his name was but his number is 64.

I'm sure that will be the highlight of the trip! That, and Nathan drank Vault for the first time! Ha! He thought it was a big deal, but it's basically the same thing as Mountain Dew.

Brandon, our guide for the day.

South Dining Hall where we ate.

Football stadium

Distant view of the Dome
The Snite Museum of Art sculpture outside the museum
There were tulips everywhere on campus. Just beautiful!
132 Ft. mural on the side of the library. Reflection pool in the front.
Main Building and the Golden Dome Another view of the Golden Dome
Looking up inside the Golden Dome. There were five floors, and then the mural was above that! Pretty high up!

Standing on the steps of the Main Building look out over the campus.

The Basilica

These are the pictures I took inside the Basilica. Sorry, they are blurry. It was dark inside, so I used the night setting, and then the pictures blurred!

The painted ceiling.


The organ!

Another picture of the ceiling.

The Grotto

One of the two lakes on campus.

Little log cabin. Replica of the first building on campus. The original one burned.

I forget the name of this building but it was one of the dorms.