Did I forget to mention ... ?

I forgot to talk about the Apache Junction Rock & Gem show I went to in February! It was basically awesome! I got to see a lot unique and fine looking samples of mostly minerals.

One of my favorite samples: a giant garnet, price $80.

The following are samples that I acquired at the Rock & Gem Show!

This is my garnet , which is about the size of a gumball, much more affordable too!

Bornite, a.k.a. Peacock Stone. This is a copper ore, this sample also has chalcopyrite on it.

Amethyst, a.k.a purple quartz

Galena, specific gravity 7.5

Kyanite

Olivine (a.k.a. peridot) on Basalt

Pyrite cube (the shape is natural)

Another view of the Pyrite cube

Pyrite Concretion, a.k.a. Pyrite Sun or Dollar

Ammonite with sutures visible from the Jurassic Period

More different Ammonite not from the Jurassic

Blue Halite, a.k.a table salt

Blue Halite

Apatite (Mmm... not kind of apatite where you want to eat)

Apatite in the light!

Petrified Wood

Tourmaline, black and blue-green. If you look closely you can see striations on all three crystals!

A rock tree! This was the craft at the show! The stand is purple and white quartz. The leaves are turquoise, olivine, snowflake obsidian, amethyst, and what I think is jade or something close to that.   

My dear friend Sally

It's about time Spring Break arrived! I have been patiently waiting for this time to arrive when all my plans won't fall through. What a great feeling. ... Anyway

This week I have been becoming close friends with Sally. We get along well. Sally is some kind of Sand/Desert Turtle, I'm not quite sure which what. I have been taking care of Sally. She has quite the apatite! I gave her a whole leaf of lettuce and she ate the whole thing within a manner of minutes!

Sally & Me

LAME

Okay. I am working on adding photos to all the posts but I wanted to try and get my adventures in order first.

Casa Grande!

My first week in Arizona was pretty awful. I arrived in Arizona excited and pumped up to start my student teaching but I wasn't allowed in the schools because I hadn't received my fingerprint clearance card! There was nothing I could do but wait and wait ... and wait until I got that card in the mail! It was like I had hit a brick wall. I was devastated. Not only had my dad had just left, the family I was living with (who I had just met) was back into their school schedule, and those were the only people I knew in Arizona. So after sitting around for a week feeling sorry for myself and regretting that I choose Arizona for my student teaching, a friend mentioned to me that on Martin Luther King Day the National Park Service was going to have free admission. I started looking up National Parks around my area and I found Casa Grande National Monument! I got really excited to go and finally do something! The day after visiting Casa Grande I got to start my student teaching! :)

Casa Grande National Monument is a really cool place to go! The ruin is about 900 years old and it is a large structure about the size of a two story house! Casa Grande is the name given to the structure by Spanish explorers. Casa Grande means Grand House. The material the structure is made of a clay/dirt mixture that is similar to cement. The material is actually just the sediment that is in the immediate area. You can read more at http://home.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm.

Casa Grande and a Saguaro Cactus 

There are other ruins surround the large house.

A ball pit

A cactus! I was really excited to see lots of different cactus in  Arizona!

You can buy this cactus in the grocery store and eat it.  I'm not sure how you eat it though.

Washington to Arizona! I have to drive how far!?

It was the end of December and it was time to pack for my move to Arizona to complete my student teaching! The drive was 24 hrs, the car was stuffed, and the weather was fair. ... My family and I celebrated my birthday a little early with a yummy dinner at Gustav's, so then on my real birthday I got to pack and pack, and then pack some more! Packing for school is definitely one of my favorite things! NOT!

I drove down to AZ on I-5 with my Dad. We stopped in LA on the way and went to Disneyland! It was awesome! We went there on New Years Eve. We spent the whole day there and boy oh boy! was it packed! There were so many people that you couldn't move around. Next time I go to Disneyland I hope it is not on a holiday like New Year's Eve! One great memory from the visit was bringing in the New Year while riding on Space Mountain!!!! 

We arrived in LA and found a Happy Birthday surprise for my Dad!

Mmm... Fresh Lemon! Really just any fresh citrus fruit is great! For breakfast I got to have a fresh orange from an orange tree!

This was one of my favorite rides!

No lines here!

Disneyland was decorated for the holidays! It was really cool! Even some rides were redecorated for the holidays! Like It's a Small World and The Haunted Mansion!

The new Little Mermaid ride!

More adventures!

Let the Memories Begin!

Sleeping Beauty Castle! :) 

The princesses taught us a dance during lunch!

Minnie Mouse in holiday garb!

It's a Small World with Xmas lights!

Everywhere was a dance party!

Happy New Year!

My temporary family!

My dad and I went to visit the LDS Mesa Temple.

They were taking down the Xmas decorations! We arrived one day too late to see them lite up night!

My favorite part of AZ is the cactus!

The capital building in Phoenix. 

The capital building is now a museum becasue it is not big enough to accommodate all the political people.

Replica of the Liberty Bell! I hope I get to see the original someday! 

Petrified wood! 

<3

I went back to the temple later and took some night pictures! I thought they turned out pretty nice! I used my new tripod I got for Christmas.

This is the replica of the Christus Statue, created by Danish scupltor Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1821, in the Mesa Temple Visitor Center. The original statue is in the Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke) in Copenhagen, Denmark.