This was the last week of school for Togiak. For the most part, the last week was about wrapping up remaining final exams, cleaning and packing up rooms, and sending the senior class to graduate.  It always seems that there is so much happening on the last week that everything happens in the blink of an eye.  This was the case for me this week.  I had so much to do that I nearly forgot to relax and enjoy the graduation.  Graduation was great.  It’s always fun to see the students as little kids during the graduation slide show.  Graduation is always the biggest event in Togiak each year.  Thursday was the last day of school.  We cleaned out lockers, checked in books, and had an awards assembly.  The awards assembly was normal as usual, except that at the very end some students got up and gave an appreciation award to me.  This was a complete shock, as no other teacher received an award from students this year or any other year we’ve been here.  This was just a super surprise.  Additionally, after the assembly I also received a healthy dose of water poured over my head, that no other teacher received either. :)  It was all in good fun.

Leaving Togiak is bittersweet.  Bitter because we have made so many good memories here, and sweet because we are excited to start the next phase our lives.  We’ve spent the last few days cleaning, packing, and spending time with friends.  We will be in Dillingham for the next week as I prepare for my new position this fall.  We’ll be in Utah at the end of this week.  We look forward to seeing you all soon! 

One Year Down
It’s finally here.  My first full year of a Masters in Educational Technology is on the books!  I couldn’t be happier.  This semester I took two classes relating to my emphasis of Network Administration.  They were Network Administration and Leadership in Technology.  I really liked the Leadership in Technology class.  Its focus wasn’t just on leadership, however, but dabbled in real life situations that might be placed before a Technology Director.  The other class I took focused on network communication, or basically, how information gets where it’s going and why it chooses to do it in that manner.  The purpose of the class is to prepare students to take their CISCO® certified network associate exam (CCNA).  It covers all the technical know-how about how computers talk to each other.  I must say that it was by far the most challenging course I’ve taken in this program.  I can honestly say that after completing the course, I only feel slightly more knowledgeable about computer networks than I did when I first started.  No biggie, I’m done and I can move on.  Next on the list is theory of something and online course design.    

Packing & Moving Sale
Kaitlyn has been very dedicated at packing up our house and selling off the stuff we don’t really need anymore.  Who knew that you could still make money on old iPods and old cell phones?  I have no idea why people want them, but they’re buying them.  Thanks eBay!  For the most part we’ve sold just about everything we have listed, either here in town or on the Internet.  People in Togiak aren’t really buying our clothes though.  Funny, button up shirts aren't too popular here, go figure. :) On Saturday, Kaitlyn and Kaylee joined the Crabtrees for their moving sale.  They allowed us to put up our leftover stuff.  Kaitlyn and Kaylee hung out there all day.  The Crabtrees have two small children, ages 7-3, and they love Kaylee.  Surprisingly, Kaylee didn’t mind being there either.  I was busy working on college homework most of the day at the school, but was able to pop my head in for a few minutes a couple of times.  

Prom
This past Saturday was Togiak’s Prom.  This year it was open to the community, so we saw quite a crowd, 50-75.  I was asked to take pictures again, so I set up shop in the band room and everyone filtered through when they felt like it.  I saw most people at least 2-3 times (if not 5-6), because who can resist having their picture taken?  I took about 200 photos and have already spent a few extra hours processing them.  Kaitlyn came down with Kaylee; however, Kaylee still doesn’t do that well in large crowds.  She was quite shy around most and was up way past her bedtime.  Unfortunately, we were too busy to get pictures of the three of us, however, Kaylee got her picture taken with some of the girls in the school.  Everybody loves Kaylee, even the boys ask about her.  Kaitlyn came by last week for something and I got to teach class and hold Kaylee for about 20 minutes.  Everyone was enthralled. But seriously, who could blame them?

Kaylee turned 5 months old today.  I can’t believe how fast she’s growing.  She has been feeling much better this week.  Whatever sickness she had she passed on to both Tim and me.  We’ve been well enough to function and go about most of our normal activities, but have just not felt well while doing it.  I am very glad to have Kaylee well though, even if it means I take a turn with the sickness.

This week (besides trying to rest) I have been preparing for a moving sale.  Tim and I decided to try and sell whatever we aren’t taking to Dillingham with us and then use that money to buy things like furniture that we will need in Dillingham.  It was a bit of a process.  We both felt like we wanted to help the new teachers out and give them a fair chance to buy what they would like.  I typed up a list of nearly everything we were selling and came up with prices and then emailed them to the new teachers.  If the new teachers were interested in something, I took pictures and gave them more information.  Our pre-moving sell was successful.  We sold our treadmill and several other things bringing in over $1000. 

The physical moving sell was scheduled for 4 hours on Friday and 4 hours on Saturday. However, we would have been just fine if we held our moving sell from 4:00-4:20 pm on Friday only.  It was a madhouse for those 20 minutes, but our stuff sold! We have a few odds and ends left, but I’m pretty happy with how it went.  We’ve also sold one of our 4-wheelers.  I did comment to Tim that it’s too bad we couldn’t have had a moving sell when we first moved here.  It seems like the quickest way to start meeting people in the village.

Today has been busy.  Tim taught the lesson in priesthood meeting.  I taught the lesson in Sunday school and in primary.  Somehow we weren’t too stressed out about it this weekend though.  I have loved being part of the Anchorage Bush Branch and attending church with people all over rural Alaska.  While I look forward to being able to physically attend church with others in Dillingham, I will truly miss our experience with church here.  We have made some good friendships. 

After church we enjoyed a “clean-out-your-freezer barbeque” with a bunch of other teachers.  One of my favorite things about living in Togiak has been the potlucks we’ve had with our colleagues.  We’ve sure met a lot of good people here and I will miss them.   

I just had to take a break from writing because I heard someone coming into our house.  It was a little boy that was at our moving sell yesterday.  When I caught him quietly closing the door behind himself he proudly said “I’ve got quarters!” and he held out a quarter and a penny.  I guess he wasn’t ready for the moving sell to be over.  After admiring his “quarters” I asked him if he remembered what he was supposed to do when he comes to someone’s house.  He correctly answered, “Knock”.  I asked him if he wanted to try it again and he said yes, but then he decided to go home instead.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever live in another place where kids feel so comfortable coming into their neighbor's house even when they don’t know them or wait around in the parking lot to ask if they can come visit.

We leave Togiak in two weeks from today.  It hasn’t really hit me yet that we are moving, really moving away.  It’s weird how quickly life can change.  Sometimes it feels so constant and that you’ll be in your current state forever and then a few moments later you find yourself wondering where the last three years have gone.