January
I turned 28 this year.
For my gift Xander took his first steps on the night before. It was a very special moment for our family,
even more special than my actual birthday.
Xander turned one this year on the 23rd. We had an open house birthday party for him
with a Mickey Mouse theme. He had fun
but I don’t think he really understood what was going on.
My mother-in-law moved in with us. Having her in the house has been an enormous
financial relief. While she isn’t
bringing in any income, but having a stay at home Grandma is much cheaper than
a babysitter and it’s just nice that someone else is doing a lot of the house work
so that Pamela and I can actually come home and enjoy being with our son.
In 2012 we took in a dog that showed up at our door and
wouldn’t go away. She was super sweet so
we called her Baby. After we moved to
the new house Baby’s personality started to change. Then in January she gave birth to about five
puppies in the house! Baby started out
as a fantastic mother to the puppies but only a few days after giving birth the
dog was ready to go back to her life without puppies. She was probably the worst momma dog in the
history of momma dogs.
Xander was fascinated by the puppies but a little frightened
of them. Funny enough he loves the
70-pound dog, Angel, and isn’t scared of her at all.
February
I took four of my wrestlers to state. Our trip was brief, none of them placed.
Even though we got very attached to the puppies, we have a
pet limit and they were expensive. We
decided the best thing to do for them was to give them and their mother to the
shelter. Everyone seemed to have one
puppy that was their favorite as we debated keeping one.
The puppy I got closest with was Cupid. On the day we took them to the shelter no one
could find Cupid until I called him. He
came running out of his hiding place to come and see me and lick me. The words just came out of me, “Oh there’s my
Cupid.” It kind of broke my heart. All of them were adopted into good
homes. Thus started our year of
rescues. We rescued fifteen dogs and two
cats during 2013.
March
I performed a wedding for the first time! I was so nervous, it became the joke of the
day that I was more nervous than the bride.
When I finished though many people told me that I had done it like a pro
and that if I hadn’t said anything they would have thought that I had performed
several marriages.
For Spring break we took Xander back to the Out of Africa
Park. He was tired but still enjoyed the
tiger show. The first time we went he
napped through it. It was nice that he
was able to look with wonder as the tiger leapt into the pool and played with
its toys.
We took the music department to the Many Farms Art Festival
where the choir placed first and one of Pam’s band students got the Judge’s
Choice Award for playing the Super Mario Brothers Theme on the flute.
April
Pamela and I co-directed the musical OZ! which was a lot of fun. Pamela worked with the students on singing and dancing and stage directions and I mainly worked with them on their lines and I even made a couple of appearances in the show. The first night our Oz stole the show, he was hilarious. The second night we weren't sure if he was going to perform or not so I was put into make up to be Oz. When he did show up and apologized we decided to let him stay in the show. Since I had make up on that made me look older I played an elderly citizen of Oz. The second night I kind of stole the show, people thought I was hilarious. Captain Elliot said it was my "calling" to playing old people.
Pamela and I had a great anniversary dinner in Chinle.
I also performed a marriage during this month. It was a
wonderful experience to be a part of.
The bride was baptized a few days later on a Monday, which was
controversial but was approved by the Mission President.
May
It was during this month that I was released from being the
Branch President of the Pinon Branch. I
had been involved in three major callings in three years and had performed two
marriages and six funerals.
I had a hard time with insects during this month. Wear shorts one day and do some yard work,
and two days later my legs were covered with giant purple spots. Many other teachers had the exact same thing
happen to them.
Pamela had a wonderful opportunity to become the academic
advisor of the High School for this school year. Pamela decided to take advantage of this
opportunity to complete an internship toward getting licensed to be a school
counselor.
June
June was a busy month of traveling for us this year. We had an amazing Southern Adventure. We saw a Spanish castle in Florida and spent
time on the beaches. We also went
kayaking in the canals. We ate Georgia
peaches, went to one of the biggest aquariums in the United States in
Tennessee, and spent an afternoon on a pontoon in South Carolina.
The best thing that happened in June though was that we
found out that we were pregnant again!
Xander had a great time on vacation. It was the first time in his life that he was
able to see the ocean and be on a beach.
He was scared of the ocean but loved playing in the sand. In Tennessee he wanted to be outside
constantly.
We celebrated our first year being sealed for time and
eternity.
July
I honestly don’t remember what happened in July.
August
Started our fourth year teaching in Pinon. This is huge in this community that sees so
many teachers come and go. First year
teachers really have a hard time here because the kids basically test them and
give them a hard time to see if they’ll even last. It’s hard to count the number of people who I’ve
met recently that assumed this was my first year. When I’ve told them how long I’ve actually
been here they are shocked. After the
initial shock people then want to know how much longer I’m planning on staying.
Pam started again as the cheerleaders’ coach again with a
squad of 23; it’s been an outlet and a challenge that she’s really enjoyed.
I coached cross-country for PAMS this year. It’s been a lot of fun getting to work with
younger students.
One of the students kept asking me to stop using big words
that she couldn’t understand. She made
that complaint almost everyday. Finally
I replied, “If I don’t use big words how will you ever learn what they mean?” She didn’t get it so I explained, “The words
I’m using really aren’t even that advanced they are normal everyday words that
you need to understand. So instead of
asking me not to use them why not ask me what they mean?”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”
September
Pam was hospitalized for a second blood clot in her right
ankle and I became very angry with doctors in general.
My dear wife Pamela knows her body and she can tell when
there is something that is genuinely wrong.
It is not the job of a doctor to belittle patients or to tell them that
they are not feeling what they are feeling or to diagnose what’s wrong without
properly investigating the problem.
Before going to the ER Pamela had gone to a hospital in
Ganado and then I took her to see a doctor in Flagstaff. After a second disappointing appointment I
took her into the ER. The ER had a good ultrasound
tech who found the clot right away.
Doctors need to LISTEN! We knew
she had a clot and we told them that was what it was.
October
I was told that I would be coaching Middle School Wrestling
this year instead of high school. The
cross-country season came to an end with one of my female runners placing 25th
at the NAIC.
Halloween with Xander was a blast. He loves the show Jake and the Neverland
Pirates so we dressed him up as a pirate.
He had a lot of fun walking with us to go trick or treating. Pamela and Jane were really surprised that he
wasn’t frightened of any of the costumes.
One of my students/neighbors had been telling me all month
that he was going to scare Xander. My
reply was always the same, “If you scare my son I will feed you to Angel.” It must have registered because when he saw
Xander on Halloween he looked over at my large dog Angel and just said “Hi” and
left.
November
Worst Wrestling Experience Ever, but a funny one.
My team and I loaded the bus on a Friday to head out to
Window Rock, about two hours away, for day one of a two-day tournament. We arrive and I walked into the local middle
school to ask where the tournament was going to be held since we didn’t see any
other teams.
They had no idea what I was talking about. Turns out the two-day tournament had been
scaled down to a one-day event and they called our school to tell us this after
I had already left. Two hours to drive
down there and then another hour talking to people in the office trying to
figure out what was going on. It would
then be another two hours to drive back meaning that the kids had already
missed over half the school day no matter what I did next.
So I figured I had to make the trip worth it somehow. I tried to get a duel with the local team,
but they were testing and couldn’t be pulled out of school. I then got them to agree to let us use their
wrestling room for a practice. As the
students were changing out of their clothes and getting ready I got the call
that PAMS wanted them back immediately.
Immediately couldn’t work because we had students in
dressing rooms. So immediately became
more like 45 minutes later. We loaded
back onto the bus and were about to go when there was another problem. The bus was leaking transmission fluid; it
was unsafe to drive home.
So as we were borrowing transmission fluid from the school
in Window Rock I called our AD to explain the situation. He felt bad for what we were going through
and faxed out a purchase order so we could at least have something to eat.
We got back in time for the end of the school day.
Pamela and I found out we were having another boy! We are overjoyed. It was a great experience to see the
ultrasound look at his bones and organs and see how healthy he is and to listen
to his heartbeat. We then got into
discussions about changing the name we had previously agreed on. The name is now Curtis Emmanuel Edwin Maynard
meaning Polite, God with us, Blessed Friend, Strong and Hardy.
Thanksgiving in Pinon with Mom was very nice.
December
We headed down to Phoenix for one of Pamela’s doctor
appointments and decided to go to the Zoo Lights. In Pinon it often gets below zero, whereas Phoenix,
being further south and lower in elevation is warm year round. We thought it was hilarious how the Phoenix
people were so bundled up. Xander had a
blast and loved the lights.
The next day Pamela and I decided to take a major step in
our lives. We traded in her old SUV for
a 2013 minivan! People make fun of
minivans a lot but honestly, I believe that no other vehicle on the planet says
you’ve made it in life as much as a minivan.
Minivan says, “I am a parent and proud of it.”
This year we had our very first Christmas in Pinon. Every other year we have always traveled
somewhere. It was a great Christmas for
our little man. We spent all Christmas
Eve setting up his present, which was all the V-Tech Go Go Sets. When Xander woke up he was able to
immediately start playing with his new treasure. He didn’t stop until naptime. When he woke up again he started playing
again until bedtime.
2014?
So what does this year hold in store for the Maynard family? Well I guess we'll just have to find out, only thing I know for certain is that the baby is coming soon! Get ready world Curtis is coming.
