Monument Valley In May 2024

This little yellow flower is named “Adonis Blazingstar.” While it may be a little extravagantly named, it did stop me in my tracks the first time I saw it on my evening walk.

It looks its best in the late afternoon as the sun begins to set and the air begins to cool down. I have not managed to get of picture of it at that time of day yet.

On Saturday, May 11, we drove to Hovenweep National Monument to hike and see the ruins. It was an hour and a half drive into even more remote and sparsely populated desert than Monument Valley, and The Man of the House commented, “How would you like to live out here in the middle of nowhere?”

I sassily relied that it “wasn’t any different from where we live now,” and was rewarded by his wry chuckle.

When we arrived, the blustery, chilly weather turned to heavy slushy rain. So instead of hiking, we watched the 18 minute video at the visitors’ center, resisted buying the thirst-trap stuffed animals, ate our lunch in the van, and drove the hour and a half back home. I actually felt pretty good about the whole thing, because it was family together time and a beautiful drive.

For Mother’s Day, I was given this cute bear (from Hunter) and a whole bouquet of white paper flowers from Banana Cream Pie and Zeke.

Peach Pie wrote me a lovely thank you letter, in which she talked about how -now that she is moved out of our home and living at college— she realizes that I did a lot for her that she didn’t appreciate before. For the years of 2021-2022, I often felt like Peach Pie thought I was the worst mother ever, so this letter was especially gratifying to read.

The Man of the House gave me this book, which I am looking forward to reading.

This desert flower is called Apricot Mallow.

This one is in the mint family, but I’m not sure of its name yet.

I also do not know the name of this bush, which is taller than I am.

On May 17, I had an interview at Tse’bii’nidzisgai Elementary School (pronounced “say-bee-needs-ees-guy” and means “Monument Valley” in Navajo).

I have been officially hired to teach 4th grade next year, and I am so thrilled. Teaching elementary school has been my dream since I was 6 or 7 years old. I used to line up my teddy bears and dolls and teach them that 2 +2 = 4 and c-a-t spells “cat.”

One of the other teachers at the school said to me “that class needs to have a teacher who cares about them for once.” And that squeezed my heart and made me even more determined to teach them well next year. Many of the teachers there are very good teachers, but some are not so good. Out here so far from everywhere, the school sometimes has to accept what it can get.

My pocket piggy- he may get to be a classroom pet this fall.

On Saturday the 18, we helped make a garden for a woman in our ward.

First, the ground was cleared and sprinkled with organic matter and fertilizer. Then that was tilled into the soil/sand.

The men raked it into raised rows and set up drip lines down the center of each row. We also put a new fence around the garden.

I did help some, but there were not enough tools and not enough garden for everyone who showed up to help, so a large portion of the time, I was just standing around getting sun-burned and feeling extra.