It's another sunny day

It's hard to believe we're already into August! So far, my checklist for this month is pretty standard. 21 days until Dad and I spend 4 days at what everybody insists is the happiest place on earth. 29 days until I find myself back in the classroom facing yet another round of 9 AM classes -- which, to be honest, aren't that bad, considering that I started school before 8 AM for 7 years. But now that my body is used to sleeping in late during the summer, I have GOT to get on top of my sleeping habits. It's a terrible cycle, because I stay up late waiting for Andrew to get home from school so we can talk, and we always end up talking until midnight or later, and then I almost always end up sleeping in until noon. Before this summer, I hadn't slept until noon in my entire life. And now here I am, suddenly needing to get myself on a steady schedule of consistent sleep and less late nights.

Anyway, sleep aside, has this been a WEEK! Yesterday I spent the majority of the day with a group of young'uns and several other adults at Silver Falls. We hiked, swam, ate, and played at the park, all in the beauty of the sunshine and 70 degree weather. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this state? Sure, 75% of the year is wet and cold, but for the 3 months that we actually have a semblance of sunshine, it's really beautiful.

The other exciting news this week is that my parents have booked their flight to Israel!!! They're going in October with a tour group from Eugene. My mom is BEYOND thrilled -- she's so ecstatic she can hardly hold it in. She has wanted to go to Israel her entire life, and I am incredibly psyched that she finally gets to go. Dad's excited too, but he has a different way of showing it. :) This is absolutely going to be the trip of a lifetime for them both. It's going to be strange not having them around for a couple weeks, but we'll be in good company with some wonderful friends of theirs who we consider adopted parents, so overall, I'm just really stoked for them.

My final tasks this week are to get ready for school and do some heavy reading and tutorializing for work. Oh school, that bane of my existence. I love Corban, but school is pretty hard sometimes. Although being in the classroom surrounded by eager young learners is worth it all. And as far as the tutorials go for work -- well, we're getting a new system, so everyone has to go online and do the tutorials to prepare themselves to be able to use this new system. It's not easy stuff to muddle through, but having a much nicer system will be worth it. My dad asked me the other night if I needed an interpreter, and I have to admit, I might! All this technical jargon is crazy hard to understand. Makes me appreciate all the work that people like my dad do every day.

Speaking of those tutorials, I've got 95% of them to go through still, so I better get crackin...