Summer ended and our family hit the ground running. Pamela at her new position and me with my big class load. Pamela had a lot of success as Dean of Students. She has had a very rewarding year helping both teachers and students. I worked hard to keep up with Spanish I and II, Education Professions I and III, and World History Honors. Although this year had a lot of challenges in it for both Pamela and I it has also been very rewarding for us both.
Pamela also started coaching the Cheerleading team again and I also continued my coaching in Cross Country. Coaching has been a great way for Pamela and I to connect with the students outside of the office/classroom. The Cross Country team was able to bring back several medals and the girls team did very well at State with our top runner coming in at 25th out of 260 runners.
During this time I decided to see just how many ties I had. Instead of using a logical method like counting them I decided to be silly about it. I wore a tie on every school day until I went through my entire collection. It took about three months. My family worried that I was becoming egotistical because I kept taking selfies. In reality they weren't really pictures of me so much as pictures of the ties.
One of the best big moments of the year was our family trip to Mesa. We had a Fall Break this year and we decided to make the most of it by going south and staying at a resort, visiting a zoo, and going to a farm. We had a special moment at the zoo when a marmoset monkey started playing with Curtis through the glass. Curtis was so happy about the interaction, he still loves monkeys. Pamela and I also decided to celebrate the anniversary of when we started dating by going out to a fancy jazz restaurant. Luckily we weren't in Mesa during all of the flooding. We did see a lot of the damage firsthand however.
I had the opportunity to be the male chaperone on a Cheerleading Trip for a competition. The final moments of the competition as we awaited the results were truly inspiring. Young girls of every race, size, and background put rivalry aside and sang and danced in unison to some of their favorite songs.
Seems like we were taking trip after trip, but it was wonderful. It was great to be able to travel to Utah for Thankmas. The combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. My family has become very spread out over the last few years with my parents in South Carolina, a sister in North Carolina, a brother and sister in Utah, and a brother in Texas. Our Thankmas trip was the first time since the Summer of 2012 that Pamela and I were able to see Sean and Chantel and their families. We were also able to make it up to Stone, Idaho to see my grandparents.
After Thankmas my wrestling season really took off. Every weekend I traveled to schools to coach the students in competitions. The team is very small this year but also very successful. Calvert Tsosie is undefeated and Tyren Yazzie has brought back 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medals from every tournament. I've seen a lot of growth from other wrestlers as well. I have been taking things a little easier lately. Wednesdays have been spent tutoring and Fridays are no practice days to give me more time with the boys. At first I was doing many morning practices to make up for this but no one was showing up.
For Christmas we decided to get out of the fast lane and just stay in Pinon and take life easy for awhile. We did take a day trip to Gallup to have pictures taken with Santa Claus and do some last minute shopping but that was about it. We had planned on going to a Midnight Mass but it didn't work out.
Christmas morning Xander really wanted to stay in bed. We pulled him out and tried to get him involved in Christmas. He groggily crawled away and climbed back into bed. We got him back out and set a present next to him which he unwrapped while laying down. Once he saw what it was he was excited enough to wake up and enjoy Christmas.
Curtis' first Christmas was a lot of fun. Curtis had been awake for awhile so he was able to be even more involved in playing than Xander was.
Throughout the year of 2014 we were busy with our animal rescue efforts. This year we rescued over a dozen dogs and several cats. We took animals out of homeless, neglectful, and abusive situations and helped them to find homes. Our family cares deeply about animals and animal rights and it has been a wonderful experience to allow these animals to spend some time in our home before sending them to a more permanent location.
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