Parents as Teachers Training

After I got back from my training in Texas I had one week at

home and then on March 20th we drove down to Salt Lake

for a training that went all that week. All together I was
away from home for 19 nights in March!At least for this training I wasn't alone. Jen, Julie, Alisha, and Laura
went to the training too. Laura didn't end up staying for
the training though because she got really sick on Monday morning.The training was for the Parents as Teachers curriculum

that the Healthy Families America program uses.
We all made our own "PAT Tats" to help us remember
this week but I forgot to take pictures of them.
I stayed in a hotel room with Jen and the nights were
always the most fun. To help pass time during the training we
would play Words with Friends on our i-pod and phone so
at night we would stay up playing and talking.Our trainers were...interesting...
they even matched as Zebras one day and not on purpose.This is a picture of my supervisor Jen at the training.
I am sure she will appreciate it.

Austin, Texas - Going Home

The week in Texas was fun but we were excited to be going home!This is a yummy cinnamon and sugar pretzel at the airport.

This is a picture of Mom coughing. She went to the doctor
one day while I was at training and she found out she has pneumonia.
Poor Mom! She was sick the entire time but she was a trooper!

Goodbye Austin, Texas!

Austin, Texas - Day 4

After my last day of training we went to Lady Bird Lake
to walk around it. It was really pretty and perfect weather.

Goofing off in the trees.

The university was practicing rowing. It was fun to watch.These boats were following them and coaching them in what to do.Along the path around the lake.

After the lake we went to Chili's for dinner.
They had some cute birds there.

Austin, Texas - Day 3

This is picture of the building my training was in.After training on the third day Mom and I tried to find a restaurant
that we were told was really good. We made the mistake of
putting it in our GPS and it said it was taking us there.
Wrong! It took us to the middle of no where again.
This is mom's "I'm going to destroy this GPS" face.
This is my "I hate this GPS" face.

This is our "At least we are spending time together" picture.
While we were driving back to the city we saw this cool castle building.

Because we couldn't find the place we were looking for we went to
Texican Cafe for dinner. I love Mexican food.

Austin, Texas - Day 2

On the second day after training we found

our way to a mall for some shopping! It was huge.
This is Mom being excited that we found the mall.

The mall was a double story. Mom had a pedometer in her
pocket and we figured out that we walked over three miles there.

For dinner we ate at Steak 'n Shake. It was really good!

This picture is an example of a u-turn on the freeway.

Austin, Texas - Day 1

My training week started out rough. The lady at the hotel desk told us it would only take about ten minutes to get to the building where my training was being held. Seeing how I like to be early, we still decided to leave over a half an hour early. We got lost. Our GPS took us in the wrong direction and was telling us that a random building was the right place. We kept asking people where to go and no one knew what building we were talking about. By this time I was already five minutes late, very stressed, and very upset. Then we decided to ask one more person, a man that I am very grateful that he knew his way around. He was able to point us to the right building! I was very embarrassed walking into the training fifteen minutes late. I walked in and they asked if I was the Utah girl, I think they were surprised at how young I was and I instantly had like ten extra mothers taking care of me after that.

My training went from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm with an hour lunch. The first day for lunch I went with a group to a Mexican restaurant called Chapala. It was really good and they had a buffet so it did not take as long. I was also glad it was in walking distance so we didn't have to chance getting lost again.

This is the Frost Bank Tower. We just thought it was a cool building.

The Texas State Capitol Building.

Part of the Great Walk leading up to the Capitol.

This is a view looking up at the Capitol's dome. The star in the
center is 8 feet in diameter and 266 feet above the ground.

Stephen F. Austin - The "Father of Texas"

Sam HoustonOutside the CapitolI thought everything was supposed to be bigger in Texas?Mom by the statue of Angelina Eberly - When Sam Houston tried to have the seat of the government moved to his namesake city by sending the military to Austin to remove the government archives. Eberly saw the men coming and sent of the cannon to wake to town to save the archives and preserved Austin as the Capitol of Texas.
After we walked around the Capitol we drove around downtown.
We went to the University of Texas and saw the Texas Longhorn stadium.

Austin, Texas -The Flight and Hotel

During the week of my Spring Break, Mom and I went to Austin, Texas.

I have been offered a job as a Home Visitor for the Healthy
Families America Program at the Child & Family Support Center
where I have been doing my practicum for my senior year.
Part of the training I need was offered in Texas so the center
flew me out there for a week. Mom decided to come with.
********************
We left Logan around one pm Utah time and got to our
hotel after midnight Texas time. We stopped in Arizona
and then flew to El Paso, Texas to switch planes.
After a delay in El Paso we flew to the Austin Airport.
This is a baggage claim. I thought all the guitars were cool.
Our rental car for the week!
Our Hotel for the week!
We stayed at the Omni Hotel.

Our room even had bathrobes for us!
(Which made my supervisor just a little jealous.)
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Our first driving experience in Texas was not so great!
It was after eleven pm and we were both just ready to be at our hotel.
We took my Dad's GPS to help us get around and we are driving on the
freeway and the GPS says, "U-turn ahead." Who does a u-turn on the
freeway! It was dark and we had no idea what the GPS was talking
about. Let's just say it did a lot of "recalculating."