It's December?!?!?!?!?

     I'm laying on the couch watching the last half hour of the CMA Country Christmas special. It's country music stars and Christmas songs, what more could you ask for?!? AND, it marks the beginning of the Christmas season, officially! I don't think Dad was too incredibly happy after Thanksgiving when Christmas music actually became "legal" in the house, even thought I'm fairly certain Mom had been playing it for at least a week if not longer.
     This update is going to be much like the one from this summer, and be categorized because it's obviously been too long since I've written anything. The ironic aspect? I have an alarm that goes off every Sunday night at 8 pm to remind me to post something on my blog....oops!

Grad School
I officially finished my third graduate level class as of last night when I turned in my final assignment....early! Now it's a waiting game as I patiently (ha!) wait for grades to appear and the book list for my next class to arrive. Thankfully I have over a month without having to worry about class, as Spring Semester doesn't start until mid-January :) I am however, worried about the workload it'll mean for me. My calendar is already full of night meetings for work, so I guess it'll just mean I'm taking my laptop and classwork with me absolutely everywhere to work on it every spare minute. But, I know I'll also have to find a way to make sure I work on assignments for a few hours each week. Starbucks may be seeing a lot of me this spring....

Mom convinced me to check into similar grad programs at WSU. Since I'm technically an employee, the idea is that things will be less expensive, and being in Vancouver close to a satelite campus I could actually attend class in person. I love that idea the most, because online classes and I don't get along super well. I've made initial contact, but haven't heard anything in response yet...

Work!
This is a big category because it's the most recent big news in my life.....it's been going well! I'm busy all the time! Lots of evening meetings right now, but once things settle down over the next year or so I won't be quite as busy any more. We've split the project areas so that I'm working with small animals and home ec (out of my element, I know), but it's already in a couple of months been a great learning process! They're talking about changing how the judging contest is run or fitting and showing, and every once in a while I have to stop them to ask about how things had working previously, because I know absolutely nothing about a cavy judging contest (turns out it's about the same, but they have classes with object "scenarios" as well as animals).

I've been able to start working with a teen group. Knowing that was one of the main reasons I was hired, it creates some pressure, but I feel confident in having experienced a well run group that I can recreate something similar. On Saturday we went to the Oregon Zoo Lights...so much fun! The kids were of course laughing at me, making fun of how excited I was, but it was so cool for the first time. We had seven youth plus parents come, which is an improvement from the three youth at our attempted game night!

Lots of leader education (training) happening. Many of the leaders are complaining and want to know why, but in the short time I've been here I've heard multiple times they wished for more education. So, our first one was last week about club finances....all the rules and paperwork. Next month is shared leadership, and how the 4-H program looks different from top to bottom now than it did even ten years ago. The one I'm excited for is youth leadership, but it won't happen until March, and the others I'm looking forward to didn't technically make our calendar this year, but I think there'll be a way to squeeze them in! Our general "welcome to becoming a 4-H leader" training happened twice this fall where there were about 20 new leaders trained, and we're already looking at having one in January because there are about ten more.

We've already got some plans formulating for things about fair, and how to make all the clubs more cohesive a little. It's interesting because the clubs here stake out their places outside the barns and arrange club or barn potlucks each night. There isn't room to do that at home, so it's a whole new concept/issue for me to even fathom. I'm not sure what it is, but it's a foreign concept really.

Other 4-H
My other favorite 4-H activity is Know Your Government (KYG). This year it seems I'm busier than ever, helping with curriculum and overseeing the blogging aspect as well as working with the collegiates and conference facilitators (CFs). We had eleven applicants for just eight CF positions, so the decision making was tough, but I managed to let the collegiates hold the reins for that. Since I was hired on as a WSU staff and am no longer classified as a "volunteer," we had to figure out a way for me to stay on the Core Committee. Thankfully that was all worked out and I think things can continue as arranged for this year, but we shall see. The most difficult part is trying to compose a way in my brain to "train" someone for what I do on Core in the event that I need to step back more or entirely. It's gotten to the point where I'm not even sure I could write a handbook about everything I do because it blends together so much.

County KYG is interesting still....I can't help at home, but the first thing one of the girls said when they saw me around Thanksgiving was "Why can't you help?!? It won't be the same!" Well, while the four hour one way drive would be completely worth it to me, for some reason I don't think my car or gas tank would be so enthused. In Clark County, however, they are excited to have me here and be a part of things. While I can't be involved in as much county KYG here as I was in Kittitas, I'll still be involved a little bit. The first meeting was great, and the second one is next week!

Home Adventures
As you probably guessed, I'm not going home as often as I was when I first moved, nor as much as when I lived in Prosser. It's been an interesting and sometimes difficult transition, but good. My car has been throwing fits ever since I got it back in October from getting the recall issues fixed. Brakes, windshield....it never seems to end. Otherwise, lots of holiday stuff happening. I worked enough hours to take the entire week off for Thanksgiving. As Ethan said, it's not something I would have been able to do as a teacher, ha! Sometimes I can give him credit for being a smart kid ;) I think I'll be able to work out the same kind of deal for Christmas, or close to it and just work a couple of hours on Monday morning of Christmas week.

We got our family tree last weekend before I came home, since I won't be back until Christmas. We went higher than usual, although it was the same spot we went last year. Just a little bit of snow, but not much as to be expected for that early in the season. Eventually there'll be more, but we'll miss adventuring in it!

Pictures
Here's a collection of pictures, including some featured in this next year's calendar, engagement shots, and we'll see what else I can find!