Time Zips By

I can't believe that it is really fall already.  We have already done two weeks of school, and we started late.  On a normal year, we would be three weeks into school.  Despite that summer isn't quite over on my blog because I have things we did that I still need to write about! I am going to try and get those up here soon.  In the mean time, this is why I haven't had the time.

 It started with going to Bear Lake the week before I had to go back to work.  Because I wasn't used to working, I came home exhausted and didn't want to do anything.  Most of the camping supplies had gotten put away, but not everything.  I had no desire to clean.  The little energy I did have after completing the necessities went to taking care of fruit.  Part of why I don't like being a teacher is that school starts right when all of the produce comes on.  I am exhausted from working and come home to piles of rotting fruit.  We actually got quite a bit of fruit off of our peach tree.  This was our first real harvest.  Last year was our first fruit and we got a grand total of three peaches.  This year we had at least half a bushel. Pretty good for a little tree.  At the end of that first week of work (which was mostly meetings, we didn't have students yet,)  we left to go to Rendezvous.  I wasn't as ready to go as I wanted to be and then it took us three hours to do the hour and a half drive. It was almost 9:00 by the time we got there.   I will do a whole post on Rendezvous with all the exciting details.  We left Sunday afternoon.  Part of the problem with going to Rendezvous is that Thomas' Uncle Bob always come then.  I think this was the first year I have gotten Thomas to go with me since we were married.  (Why was it easier to get him to come when we were dating?) Part of why we came home Sunday instead of Monday was so that he could go visit Bob.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not.  Thomas' mom had been working and was tired, so she wasn't going to stay very long.  We opted to ride with her.  Somehow when we are there we always get sucked into staying longer than we mean to.  As much as I enjoy pinocle, I didn't want to play it until midnight.  OK, it was only about 10:00, but I was trying to get into our new school routine.  Thomas really didn't get home until after midnight.  Monday was Labor Day.  I was going to can my tomatoes, but I decided that they were green enough, and there were enough close to ripe still outside, but not quite ready, that I could wait until the weekend.  The majority of the peaches did have to be done that day.  Isabelle wanted a pie and a fancy candle lit dinner.  We told here we would do it the next day.  We did get everything ready though.  My sister Jennae wanted to do something, and we were supposed to go to Thomas's grandma's for a BBQ.  I really didn't want to go since Tuesday was the first day of school.  I was glad when it got canceled/postponed until Sunday.  We ended up buying fried chicken, making a quick salad and taking it down to Barnes Park.  It was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed visiting.  My parents stopped in on thier way home; they were still pulling the trailer and everything.  My brother also came with his daughter.  Tristan loved the ducks.  We had some rolls that he kept wanting to go feed them.   In the evening we just relaxed and tried to prepare mentally for school to start.

Isabelle was so excited for school to start.  She had been asking about it all summer.  The first day, they didn't have class, but they did have a parent meeting.  I of course couldn't go because I was doing my own first day of school.  I made arrangements to meet her teacher the Friday before.  She seemed really nice, and I think that Isabelle will like her.  Thomas took her to the meeting and was in charge of both the kids that day.  That evening as promised, we had a "fancy dinner." Mostly it was like an other dinner, except we dressed up the table and we had peach pie for desert.


Wednesday was her first day. Thomas dropped her off.  The two grandma's slit baby-sitting. When we asked her about it, she said she like school, but she didn't learn anything.  I kind of think she thought she would learn to read that first day.



When I got home from school, we headed up to Snowbasin for my cousin's wedding.  It was at the Needles lodge at the top of mountain.  You had to ride the gondola up.  We had to go just for the experience.  It was pretty amazing.  It makes me want to see it in winter, but I don't think I am a good enough skier to handle Snowbasin. 

View of the Valley

The bathrooms were supper nice.  The counters were marble,

and the toilets were gold plaited

In the Gondola

 
Thursday was supposed to be book club, and I was supposed to be in charge.  We ended up postponing it a week because most people had to go to back to school night.  I was relieved because I didn't know how I was going to get a dessert made and the house clean in time.   Friday I got the tomatoes pureed.  That made things easier on Saturday.  Thomas was supposed to help me make salsa, but he ended up having to work because another employee quit. The think about canning, is that it isn't nearly as hard as you think it is going to be.  It is however time consuming.  I had to cut up the peppers, let the stuff cook, boil the water for the canner, turn everything off and run to the store to buy lids, wait for everything to get back up to temperature, cook, then clean it all up.  It was about 5:00 by the time I was finished.  Of course a lot of that time was waiting.  I do love when the canning is finished.  The bottles look so pretty sitting there.  It gives me a thrill to hear each one pop.  We still need to do applesauce, which may or may not be all I do this year.

Sunday we went up to Huntsville to grandma Toombs.  It was fun, but again we got home later than I would have liked.  Partly because of everything we had going on we were pretty unsuccessful at getting or bedtime routine established.  The second week of school should have gone better, but it didn't really.  By Monday, Tristan had gotten a cold.  It made him kind of crabby.  I am not sure if it is related or not, but he also wouldn't go to bed.  At least he wouldn't go to sleep.  I would take him to bed, tuck him in, and kiss him good-night.  He would smile at me and lay there snuggling his blanket like he was going to go to bed.  Almost as soon as the door was shut however, I could hear him get up and start playing.  It was really cute listening to him talk to himself, but he did it until after ten, three nights in a row.  Thursday was the book club that had gotten postponed from the previous week.  Since it was our fist meeting of the year, we had to discuss our summer book and pick new ones.  The September meeting always takes longer than the others.   (Again I am planning on doing a separate post.  I haven't written about books in a while, and there are a couple I've been meaning to.) Thomas took the kids up to his mom's, and it was almost ten by the time they got home.   On top of all that I could feel myself getting Tristan's cold.  It wasn't bad, and I thought it would be mild.  Halfway through school on Friday however, it hit hard.  I was blowing my nose constantly, sneezing, and generally being miserable.   We were supposed to go clothes shopping, but we spent the evening laying low.  I haven't done much today either.  I am waiting for Thomas to get home from work, and then I will attempt the shopping.   I would really like it if things could be not so crazy for a while.  It is no wonder I can't believe it has been two weeks already. 


A note about pictures:  Apparenly some of the ones I was going to post here are not downloaded yet.  Our Tuesday night dinner and the first day of school are still on the camera along with Rendezvous.  There are also some posts that don't have pictures yet that did get downloaded and hopefully will be added soon  like Lagoon, bowling, and more bear lake. 

Hawaii Update

It is funny the way things work out sometimes.  I think that I mentioned in my last post about how I had been trying to post about Hawaii for a long time, it was posted five months after we went.  I also mentioned that the biggest negative impact on the trip was losing my dad's GPS,which was not the start, but the big drop off for my emotional roller-coaster, which I couldn't get off of.  I think that the trip would have been much better if that hadn't happened.   Thomas and I both prayed that it would show up and that we would find it, but it never turned up.  We spent several hours of our very short trip looking for it.  We both felt like the answer we got to our prays was not to worry about it.  What kind of an answer is that?  Obviously I couldn't just let it go.  Even after we returned and we bought my dad a new one, I stressed and fretted about it and what had happened to it.  Five months later, I finally get my post written and posted.  That night I am watching television when Thomas walks in.  He has a funny look on his face and something hidden behind his back.  He pulls it out and I just stare at him.  I don't know what it is; then it hits me.  It is the missing GPS.  I had never truly felt like it was stolen because we still had the mount and the cable.  If I was a thief I would take the whole thing.  We had looked everywhere though.  We search the rental car multiple times.  We search Thomas' camera bag.  It wasn't anywhere.  I still had unrealistic hopes that it might show up. I expected a package in the mail, or a call from the temple.  Where was it I ask?  He shrugs his shoulders and says "In my bag."  He was looking for batteries, and there it was.  He had apparently put it in upside down, so it blended in with the bag, and then it slid so that it was underneath multiple dividers.  I still don't understand it.  I remember taking everything out of the bag and having it lying all over the hotel bed. How could we not find it in an empty bag?  Why were we not directed to it when we prayed if it was right there!  It bugs me a little bit, but I think that mostly I have moved on. Maybe there was a reason, even if I can't see it.  The plus side is that we now have our own GPS.  (Although the activities we would have done instead of searching would have been cheaper.) 

Spring Break Comes to an End

My spring break is basically over.  I know I still have the weekend, but it is going to be very full with Easter stuff.   Hopefully this year I will even get some pictures posted.  I still have a partially written Easter post from last year that never got posted.  I seem t have a hard time getting the big things up here.  Like Hawaii.  I actually uploaded some pictures, they just aren't posted. Maybe soon.  I  didn't mean to ramble though I was going to tell about the rest of my break because it really was a pretty good week. 

Isablle had been asking for quite a while if she could go to the park.  Not just any park, but the castle park.  We had told her we could go sometime this week.  Wednesday was supposed to be the warmest day of the week, so that is the day we picked.  I spent the morning doing some cleaning and then we packed up our lunches and headed out.  As anticipated the park was very busy.  My sister was bringing her kids as well.  Isabelle was anxious for her cousin to show up.  Even after they got there, they had a hard time focusing on their lunch.  They just wanted to go play.  Finally we let them go.  The castle park has some slides, but it is mostly walkways, ramps, and secret cubby holes. They had a lot of fun running up and down and around.   I spent most of my time in the kiddie area with Tristan.  He liked to swing and go down the "lide."  After about an hour we said it was time to go home.  We, the adults, were more than ready to be done.  The kids thought it was a tragedy to leave so soon.   I decided to stop at Grandma's house on the way home. It isn't very far specially since the road was closed and the detour took us down Grandma's road.  She wasn't home yet from getting her car fixed, so we got Tosha out and took her for a walk. I got her harness on all by myself.  I was very proud.  I was a little worried about pushing the stroller and holding the leash, but it mostly was fine.  I even got some help.  Tristan kept trying to hold the leash for me while he sat in the stroller.  It was super cute.  He didn't hold on very tight though and then I would have to chase the end out he the leash.  Isabelle spent most of the walk saying how tired she was and out of breath.  Curiously she wasn't too tired and out of breath at the park.  Grandma got home just as we finished our walk.  We stayed to visit with her for a little then headed home.  Thomas was supposed to be home by then, but he had some problems come up at work and was taking longer than expected.  His day off ended up being a 12 hour work day.   I did some more yard work while we waited for him.  Then we watched some Mary Poppins and headed to bed. 

I had thought Thomas only had off work Tuesday and supposedly Wednesday, but he had Thursday off as well. We had a game day at my mom's house.  Thomas went to go "exercise" at the pool.  Everyone was a little late getting there and things weren't getting started.  I didn't want to waste my day, so I finally got a game of Settlers of Catan going with the boys. The two oldest nephews are both going to turn 13 in the summer.  I can't believe they are that old.  I think that the other is about 11.  They are almost the same age as the kids I teach.  We actually had a pretty good game.  I would have won if I could have got four more roads.   After Thomas came we played a game called Wonders of the World.  I think it is kind of fun.  It is however a little bit compicated and I guess I didn't explain it well.  Both Thomas and my mom (who had played before but it had been a while and she didn't remember the instructions) were confused.  It ended up being a three way tie for 43 points and my nephew getting 44 points.  Then I realized that the score for my set of cards was supposed to be squared not doubled.  I had nine points for that section instead of six.  I beat him by two points.   Isabelle wanted to go home with her cousin.  When I went to go pick her up they wanted to have a sleepover.  I thought that would be fine.   She is so sad about her cousin moving.  They had gotten and offer on their house Thursday morning and my sister spent part of the day dealing with that.   We went home and got her stuff and sent her back.  At about 10:00 that night we remembered that we had a doctors appointment at 8:45 in the morning. 

We did not get up as early Friday and we meant to.  It ended up being a bit of a rush. We were only about two minutes late for the appointment and had to wait almost ten minutes still, so i didn't feel too bad.  Everything went well.   Both children are healthy.  Isabelle is 34 lb. and 19 percentile.  almost 42 inches and 37 percentile.  Tristan was 24 lb. and 17 percentile.  31 inches and 5 percentile.  For our kids that is really good.  Tristan especially has moved up a little.  The funny thing is despite being that low in weight and height, his head is 53 percentile.  After the doctors we went home and got ready to go back to Grandma's house for the day.  Thomas was working in the afternoon to close.  I had planned to scrapbook with my mom.  I paid for my younger sister to take Isabelle to see the new Chipmunk: Chipwreck movie.  They both really liked it.  I put Tristan down for a nap and we got quite a bit done.   I took last Thursday and Friday off of work to go to a scrapbook party at my great-aunt's house.  It was a lot of fun.  She had tons of supplies and didn't mind letting us use any of it.  My mom had a similar party back in October.  I didn't take off work that time, so I was only there for Saturday morning.  Before that I hadn't done any scrapbooking for several years.  I have gotten excited about it again.  Isabelle really enjoys looking through them and there aren't that many pictures of her. Most of the pictures are on the computer in digital format.  I kind of need to decide if I am going to keep making traditional scrapbooks or if I want to try something more digital.  Thomas is supposed to do one of the online books they print for his Africa trip.  It was his birthday present last year, but he still hasn't gotten me the pictures.  I also have points from pampers to do a book, which I wanted to do for Isabelle.  The day did not end as well as I had hoped.  I was planning on staying at my parents to watch a movie or something fun, but both the kids were having meltdowns. It was probably because of the shots.  We packed up and headed home.  Both kids were in bed and asleep by 8:30, which for us is really good. 

Productivity

Monday was not a good start to my vacation.  I was full of woe is me and self pity.  I hate it when I get like that, but I can't seem to help it.  I tend to worrry about things, and be overly critical.  The good news is that it didn't last all day.  The evening actually turned out quite nice.

Waiting to Begin

 Isabelle had found the egg dye in the cupboard and was anxious to use it.  Sunday we cooked eggs, but we didn't quite get to the coloring part.  We promised here we could do it on Monday when her daddy got home from work.  She has a very good memory and doesn't let things go.  As soon as he got home, she wanted to color eggs.   We got the dye ready, and then we colored eggs.  Thomas is really good at this (and anything else that has an artistic edge to it.)  He actually uses his drummel to engrave designs into the eggs.  They are really quite fancy.

Drummeling the Eggs

Working Together

I don't care about the eggs. Could you read me a story?

In the mail we got a flyer for Toys R Us.  They were having buy one get one half off on Legos.  I was supper excited.  That is a great deal.  We ran over to the Toy store.  Unfortunately our local store has terrible selection.  I had also looked online.  They were out of stock on three of the four sets I was interested in.  Not mush of a sale if you ask me.  We ran over to Target while we were out and found one of the Dino sets on sale.  I think it is sad that both Target and Walmart have better Lego selection than Toys R Us does.  I am very excited for Easter.  I do still need to get a couple of things, but it should be fun.




Tuesday was one of those days that I wish could happen all of the time.  I was productive, and I got stuff done.  I got things done I had been putting off for weeks.  It is spring break, and originally we were going to go on a little trip down to Dinosaur National Monument.  It didn't quite happen because the arrangements didn't  all get made, but we will probably still go sometime soon, and it probably was best that we were home.  I got up, well not early, but at least on time.  I decided to run the car over to get inspected.  It was actually due in January, but so were the rest of the cars, and mine ended up with a broken exhaust manifold.  So we waited.  Since it wasn't registered we didn't drive it.  A couple of weeks ago when I tried to take it it, it wouldn't start.  Apparently a battery can go dead from just sitting.  Anyway so I went to the store, and I got there just before the guy who opened the store.  I was going to read while I waited, but then I thought it would be a great time to grade papers, so I did.  I got most of the 9th grade worksheets done.  When I got home we made breakfast and got everyone dressed.  Then I worked on my resume.  (I really do want to do something different, I just don't know what.  Which is a problem.) Also, while I was working on that I called the a car place about the seat belt  that broke in my car about a month ago.  I still drive to daycare, but I haven't been able to go anywhere further than that.  I had a (hopefully) great idea.  We made several inquiries about the part, but the only one that responded is in Virginia.  It was going to cost about $10-15 for shipping.  The store is actually very close to where my brother-in-law is living.  I asked if he could just pick it up and bring it back on the plane with him this weekend.  I am still a little worried they won't want it in his carry on for some reason, but otherwise it worked out really well.

 By about noon we were ready to go.  We dropped the kids off at my moms for my younger sister to watch, and we headed over to LDS employment.  I have been trying to get Thomas to go for quite a while.  I am not sure the trip was as productive as I had hoped, but at least we both now have accounts and know how to look up jobs.  Our next stop was the tile store.  We picked the darker redish tile, which also was the cheapest.  It is now ready to install, except this weekend being Easter.  I could really use a Saturday as well as the Easter weekend.  We have three egg hunts all on Saturday.  While we were out, we also stopped at Walmart and got some Easter things.  We then headed home.

I had told my sister to feed the kids peanut butter sandwiches, but that didn't sound tasty to her.  Instead she served homemade Macaroni and Cheese.  It is one her favorites. There were leftovers and she very kindly shared them with us.  (Speaking of my sister, she has a job interview at Lagoon today, so we are praying for here and keeping our fingers crossed.  She really needs a job.) 


On our way into the house the children were distracted by their bikes and strollers.  They thought they needed to be used., so of course we ended up going on a walk.  It was nice, except that Isabelle kept panicking about going too fast, so we ended up going at a snails pace.  When we got home our productivity lagged a little.  I think I played a round of Tetris while Thomas took a nap.  I then decided to join him.  Who says that napping isn't productive?  Unfortunately I tried to get the children to nap with us, but it ended up waking Thomas up.  He got up and I finished the nap.  I woke up a little while later to someone head butting me until I moved.  Toddlers can be so sweet.

 

The last thing on my list for the day was yard work.  We actually made some good progress.  We got several more of the flower beads cleaned out and some of the wood chips spread around.  (I might add more pictures later.  My camera ran out of batteries after I took the one of the wood pile.)  We then went in and I made potatoes and chicken gravy.  It was very tasty.  We wanted to watch something.  I had borrowed several family films from my Mother-in-law, so we decided to watch one of those.  We picked Mary Poppins.  Both of the children were enthralled.  I was surprised how entertained they both were.  even on the slower parts. It is long and kind of episodic, so we only watched to the end of their first outing.  The next night we watched through the outing to Uncle Albert's.  I think the next bit is when they go to the bank.  I am not sure where the chimney sweeps come in.

Like I said, it felt like a very productive day.

Frustration

I am feeling very frustrated today.  I should be having fun and enjoying spring break.  Instead I am bummed out and depressed.  I feel like everything goes wrong at once.  Of course it has all been building for a long time.    First off I am totally stressed out about what to do about kindergarten next year.  I can't find anyone to watch Isabelle and my schedule doesn't work.  I would have to drop her off a little over an hour early for Morning kindergarten and I would be about a half hour late picking her up from afternoon.  I have no idea about the rest of the day.  She could still do the daycare, but she would need a ride.  I was hoping to not pay daycare now she is in school.  Ideally I would just quite so I could be home and be involved with her schooling and spend time with her before she starts going to school full time.   Unfortunately it doesn't' seem like that is an option.  Especially with all of the unexpected expenses we keep having.  We have had to buy new tires for all three cars, plus brakes and rotors for Thomas' car.  We had the expenses from the windstorm in December.  The roof was patched, but the vents are still leaking and some if not all of it needs to be replaced.   The wood floor needs to be sanded and re-varnished.  We didn't do it when we moved in although some spots needed it.  Here we are five years later, and it really needs it, especially those spots.  Our dishwasher has been having problems, so I had some plumbers come out and give us an estimate.  According to them there is about $600 worth of work that needs to be done to fix the dishwasher and increase the pressure to the whole house, which is apparently really low.  There is an additional $400 worth of stuff which they said wasn't imperative, but probably should be done before something breaks.  I think I can get new toilets though for about the same price they wanted to replace the insides of them.  How is anyone supposed to have fun with their families if all you do is take care of emergencies.  If anyone knows of a management job that pays more than managing a fast food place let me know, or a part time job here in town that pays well let me know.  I know it isn't likely, but I keep hoping that perfect job will come around.  Part of Thomas' problem is that he doesn't know exactly what he wants to do with his business management degree.  He is too busy at his current job that pays him half of what he is worth to even look for something else.   I am tired of my job.  I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy working with most of the kids, but I am sick of planning, grading, discipline, and politics.   I hate having to spend hours of my own time grading papers, which the kids just throw away.  They don't even read the comments I made.   I just wish that things were simple. I know they never are.    There was that conference talk about not being jealous of other people because they received blessing that you didn't.  It isn't that I am not happy for them, but sometimes it feels like everything is working out for everyone else but not for me.  I know that their lives are probably not as perfect as they seem, but at least it isn't everything in their lives that is broken and defective.  It seems that everything is out of my control and there is nothing I can do to fix any of it.  You can't live on wishing things were better and different.  It wears you down.  How do I find happiness with where and who I am?

Where Did January Go?

So we made it through the holidays, but now we are stuck in the slow winter months right?  Well apparently not this year.  I can't believe that January is almost over.  I have so many things I have wanted to write about lately, and haven't had time to do any of them.  Maybe  I will get some of them done Monday. I am taking a "sick" day.  I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning and then I will be taking some very needed down time.   I am still working on my Hawaii post,and I and planning a post about my latest obsession... LEGOS!  I know, its sad.  I also wanted to post about my New Year's resolutions.  Lucky for me most of them are still relevant despite it being the end of January. So here they are before we find out it is February.

First we had a few Family goals.

1. Keep the house cleaner.    This one has been going fairly well.  I especially wanted to focus on clearing the table after meals and picking up toys when we are done. There is still room for improvement, but it is definitely going better.
2. Share with Siblings.      This one was specifically geared toward the younger members of the family.   I am not sure what to say about this one since I had to pause in writing this to break up a fight over a toy.  I guess that is why we have a whole year to work on it.  
3. Have Family Home Evening   This one is also going well so far.  We have had a lesson every week but one.  We have also sang primary song, which I thought was a lot of fun.  We decided that we need another song book.  Thomas  needs it on the piano and I don't know the words as well as I once did. 

Then there are the Personal Goals:

1. The Relief Society in our ward challenged us to read the Book of Mormon 365 days this year. I thought it would be nice if Thomas and I did it together.  We have been reading about a chapter a night, and so far, we haven't missed.  
2. Another challenge we have been facing lately is finances.  The basement cost more than expected, we have been over spending in general, and there have been several large unexpected things.  We are trying to rebuild some of our savings by minimizing our expenses, which is a lot harder then it seems.  We don't have a lot of frivolous expenses.  There isn't much to cut out, which leaves things like going out to dinner and other activities.  It isn't much fun, but hopefully it will pay off.  
3. I don't know if it is really a goal, but I am trying to work through some personal issues.  I have not been very happy lately, and I need to change that.  Part of the problem is figuring out if it is because I am overstressed, just letting myself get rundown and in a rut, or if there is something physically or chemically wrong with me.  Right now I am trying to do two things. Reduce stress and be more positive.  I am also trying to monitor when I have my meltdowns. Is there a hormonal component? 
4. I also need to play more and spend more time with my children.  Isabelle will be starting kindergarten next year and it makes you realize how quickly they grow up. 
5. One last one, I would like to write more.  It makes me sad when I read other people's blogs and they have so many more posts than me.  Especially when there are things I want to write about.  Maybe my sister moving to the other side of the country will help with that.

I guess we will see how well we continue to work on these.  

Family Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas 2011

I was hoping to get this out early this year, but here it is two days before Christmas and I am still finishing up.  I hope that everyone has had a good year and great holiday season.  This year has been a lot of the same stuff with a few surprises thrown in.  As far as our jobs everything is mostly the same.  I am still teaching at Mueller Park Jr. High with 8^th and 9^th grade English.   This is the first year that I have not had a new subject; although the first little bit of 9^th grade felt new since I missed the first seven weeks of the year.  I did apply at the new junior high they built here in Kaysville, but my friend got the job.  Last year our entire English department was expecting.  I had mine in August before school started, the other two had theirs after the year ended, and neither came back.  The fourth teacher was the one who got the job at the new school. That left me as the sole returning English teaching. I had several other friends that quit or moved to the new school, so there have been a lot of changes. It has been a bit of an adjustment getting know and work with new people.  Allen is still managing the subway in Ogden.  Other than the constant influx of new employees not much has changed on that front. 

           

Annika is now four years old.  She is really enjoying being a “big girl.”  She is also generally a fantastic older sister; although sometimes brother “bothers” her.  They are both still at the high school day care.  Annika loves it there.  She is always excited to go to school.  I think that socially it has been a great thing for her.  She has learned a lot about being friends and interacting with others.  She loves to sing.  Her favorite song right now is “I’m getting nothin’ for Christmas.” We are getting a little tired of hearing it.  She is also obsessed with princesses.  She was a very pretty princess for Halloween. 

           

Aidan is almost 17  months .  He is a happy baby.  He is always full of smiles and mischief. At school he is one of the favorites. All the high school girls liked to hold him. He went 14 months without getting teeth and then got six all at once. That  did make him a little cranky, but he seems to be doing better now.  One of his favorite activities is to open and close things, especially cupboards.  He also loves his blankets (there are five of them.) He is always carrying one or more of them around.  He doesn’t always have to be holding it, but it must be on floor in close proximity.  He also loves to be outside.  I have never seen a child before who got so excited about shoes and socks.

           

Our first big surprise of the year was Allen’s opportunity to go to Africa with his uncle.  He was gone for two and a half week during July.  The rest of us kept occupied with camping trips and family reunions, but we missed him a lot.  He spent most of the time in Tanzania and Kenya.  At the end of the trip they flew down to see Victoria Falls as well.  He was his uncle’s photographer.  He “had to” get a new camera before he went and then rented a fancy high zoom lens (you don’t want to get too close to those lions after all.)  He took about 16,000 photographs.  You can see some of his favorites at www.flickr.com/photos/alyntopia/. 

I also have a flickr page, www.flickr.com/photos/wravenlockw/, my pictures are generally not as impressive as Allen’s.   The other thing I got into this year was blogging.  There were two blogs I started reading, which inspired me to start my own blog.  I have really enjoyed writing it;  although  I have not publicized it very much. You can read my posts about some of the other things we have done this year at: adventures-gretchen.blogspot.com. 

The other thing that has kept us busy this year is finishing our basement.  Allen started it in the summer, but he just didn’t have time to really work on it.  We ended up hiring help.  They have completed all the work but the painting, which Allen and I did.   It has taken longer than I expected, even with professionals. Right now Aidan is sharing a room with the computers.  It makes it hard because the best time to work on things is when he is sleeping and you can’t because the computer is in the room with him.  I am hoping that once the computers are downstairs, I will be able to do more with my blog, scrapbooking, and dealing with our family pictures.  I also am very excited about my new tub we installed in the basement.  I can’t use it though because it doesn’t have a surround.  All we have left to finish is the tub surround and floor in the bathroom.  That,  however, is on hold, because something else came up.

Allen’s sister told us in October that she was engaged.  That normally wouldn’t have been a big impact on our basement, but she picked the Laie Hawaii temple.  We had six weeks from when she got engaged until the wedding.  To complicate things the trip would be over Thanksgiving and my birthday.   It ended up being pretty good, although there were a few problems.  Aidan ended up being sick the day before we left, and then I was sick on the plane there.  It is never a good sign when you are nauseous before you get on the plane. The first day there was the wedding.  It was very nice.  The temple workers were amazed that we all came so far for the wedding.   We also got to spend a little bit of time at the beach.  The second day we went to Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center.   The third day there was snorkeling, shopping, the Dole Pineapple Plantation, some more beach, and fish for Thanksgiving dinner.  The waiter also sang me happy birthday. I got a piece of coconut cake.  It was very tasty.  We flew home that night at midnight.   It was fun, but short.  Mostly it helped us know what we want to do next time we go. 

We welcomed December with a huge windstorm.  We did have some damage.  One of our windows was broken by a flying shingle, the roof was not as well covered as it had been, and the plum tree in front of our house was gone.  We were saddened by the loss of the plum tree.  There were originally two, but we lost one in an April snow storm.  It was half dead and kind of ugly, so we didn’t mind too much.  The other was bigger and had a nicer shape.  Our house now looks naked without them out front.  I almost stayed home that day because I was so traumatized just driving up to the high school.  I got hit by a large tree limb and almost by a garbage can.  I was assured that school was on, so I braved the winds rushing through Centerville.  It was terrifying to drive down the road feeling your car sway in the wind and see semi after semi tipped on its side.  In Bountiful it was much calmer.  By the time I got to school the power was already out.  At the end of the first hour we were informed that we weren’t getting power back and we started sending students home.  Emergency evacuations are a huge mess.  I spent the morning as a runner going to get students out of their classes when their parents came.  By the time it calmed down at 11:00, I had over 6,000 steps for the day.  At that point I found out the daycare was closed and left to go pick the kids up.  Unfortunately I had left my lights on and my car was dead.  I had to have another teacher jump my car.  It was one of the most exciting days I’ve had in a while. 

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas Season.

Love the Widdison Family

Welcome November

We have apparently entered that time of year known as the holidays.  It is a time characterized by its super busyness.  I have several posts planned, which I have not had time to actually do yet.  Remember several months ago when I mentioned that we were working on our basement?  Well it's making progress, and I have a few pictures to prove it.  I have tried to do some yard work that needed to be done before it got cold, and I have mostly succeeded.   I still owe my mom some weeding for help on a certain princess dress which needed to be done in time for a recent holiday.  There are also pictures of that.  Last week was also the end of the term, which meant lots and lots of grading. My 8th graders turned in essays right before the end of the term, so I spent my fall break reading papers and sewing.  My toddler is also getting to be a handful.  He suddenly seems taller and is getting into things I don't think he should be able to reach, my alarm clock for example.  Today he was playing with my keys while we loading everything after school.  I had set him on the sidewalk next to the car.  He walked over to the car and tied to stick my car key in the key hole on the door.  Where did he get so smart?  Then while we were getting ready for bed, he tried to turn on his sister's lamp.  He thought he was such cool stuff.  I am hoping that things settle down a bit, but I am sure that they won't.  There is the basement to paint, a wedding to prepare for (which happens to be out of state), NAL practices start next week and I am still recruiting ( I have just over half the students I need for a full team), and of course as mentioned... the holiday are upon us.   I hope that everyone's lives aren't quite so hectic, and if they are.. well have fun.  Does it really matter if the laundry get done and the kitchen gets cleaned? Because it might be February before my life settles down again.

Good-Bye Summer

I thought that today was the fall equinox. It turns out that it isn't until Friday the 23rd.  I guess that means that I get two more days of summer!  It wasn't a supper exciting summer, and we didn't get to do a lot (unless you counting Thomas' trip to Africa in that we.)  However, we still managed to have some fun just hanging around at home.  I thought as we say good by those warm laid back days I would share some of the random pictures I had of summer fun. 

 First off we have the day we picked apricots (yummy! Isabelle keeps asking when there will be more on the tree.)  The tree has gotten a little bit big and unmanageable.  I decided to try out an idea I had last year.  What if we held a sheet under the tree while some shook the tree.  That would work great wouldn't it...

 Well, it kind of worked.  We got some of the fruit we wouldn't have otherwise been able to get.  Us sheet holders, however, did sustain a few injuries from being pelted by falling fruit.

We also enjoyed piggybacks,

bubbles,

 and Popsicles.

Sometimes we just sat around playing video games and having snacks.  

                       

        

 Occasionally, we even dressed up.

Even though there are lots of things to look forward to in the fall, I will still miss the summer.  We wait for it all year, and then it is gone so quickly.  It is amazing how time flies.  Before you know it, Christmas will be here, then Valentines, and Easter with the return of  flowers and insects.  Then yes, once again, summer will be here.

Where Has the Summer Gone?

I thought that once school got out I would blog more.  I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post.  Not that I don't have several partially written blogs floating around in my head, but that doesn't help anyone else read them.  I am appalled that we are half way through July.  I had so many plans for things to do this summer, and I really haven't accomplished that much.  Not that I haven't been fairly busy.

The first week after school got out both kids had fevers around 103.  They seemed fine otherwise.  There went that week. 

The next week was my family reunion, which I was in charge of. It was fairly simple event.  Friday the 17th those of us who didn't have to work played games, which ended up being very few because of unexpected work complications.  For dinner that night we had home made Chinese.   My mom made a beef and broccoli stir-fry. I made eggrolls, and my sister made orange chicken.  She had a recipe for the orange chicken, but decided to go the easy way and just put the orange sauce on pre-breaded chicken.  It was really good, and supper simple.  I think she got the bottle of orange sauce at Costco. We were supposed to sleep in tents near the creek that runs behind both my house and my sister's house, but we didn't get the tents up and the children were cranky.  I think it would have worked a little better if they were a little bit older.
Friday morning everyone came back over and we made waffles and pancakes.  Everyone seems to prefer one or the other, so we made both.  After that we went to the park and played kickball.  It was really fun.  My nephew really likes to watch his older brother play soccer, and he wanted to chase the ball like you would a soccer ball rather than running the bases.  The girls decided it was more to play tea party on the bleachers with the water bottles.  Four-year-olds are so funny.  Next we went home to pack lunches for our hike.  There are actually quite a few hikes in the county, and I have been on very few of them.  That was actually one of my plans this summer: Get a baby backpack and check out the hikes.  It hasn't happened.  We went on the wilderness trail, which is part of the network of Bonnivile Shoreline trails.  We didn't go real far because we had small children.  We didn't have the baby though, which was nice.  My mom couldn't go on the hike and it happened to be nap time, so that worked out well. 
After the hike we went to my mom's to play water games.  I had hoped to go to my cousin's pool, but it wasn't available.  We made do with a slip-n-slip and a kiddle pool. I think there were also some water balloons.  For dinner we had Pulled Pork Salad kind of like they do at Cafe Rio.  I found the recipe here.  We made the lime dressing and the lime rice.  They were both really good.  I didn't bother with the beans.  We just warmed them up straight out of the can.  It was quite a bit of work, but really good.  It would probably work better if the meat was marinated ahead of time.  I didn't start mine until that morning and it didn't get quite enough crock pot time.  I would say it was a very successful event.  I just wish I had thought to bring my camera.  I think that my mom and sister might have some.  I will have to check with them. 

Again, I am not sure what we did the next two weeks.  Laundry, dishes, more laundry.  Nothing fun and exciting.  The one day I do remember is the 24th of June.  Thomas' cousin got married that day.  Grandma had the kids and we got to spend the day together.  The wedding was in the Salt Lake Temple.  That was followed by the luncheon at This is the Place State Park. I was unaware that the pioneers had air conditioning.  The building we were in was frigid, especially the bathroom.  The reception was down in Riverton, so we didn't go home.  There may have been some miscommunication about that .  I think that Grandma thought we were coming home.  Instead we went to REI and looking at hiking packs.  They were sold out of the cheaper models (You know, the ones that cost just over a hundred instead of just under two hundred) I really wanted to try some out.  That is the downside of shopping online.  Next we stopped at Ikea.  we had a lot of fun. We had gotten Thomas a night stand a while ago, but I didn't think I wanted one.  Turns out I really did want one.  We also found a bed we liked, the one that matches the nightstands, but it didn't fit in the car.  There is a good chance we will get it, but we haven't got it yet.  We were a little early for the reception, but they were running way behind, so we pitched in and helped get things ready.  We weren't going to stay very long, but there were a lot of relatives we hadn't talked to in a long time, so by the time we finally left we had been there most of the reception. 
We also went to the wedding reception of my best friend from high school.  It was really fun to see her. We have not seen each other in a while, even though we live about four miles apart.  I meant to have a house warming party for all my friends when we bought our house, but it was so busy it never happened.  We have been here now for over three years.  I would still like to have a get together, but time is always the issue.

The next event was the 4th of July. Sunday we went to Thomas' grandma's.  I took a chicken strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing. I thought it was pretty good.  It was supposed to be kind of like the one they have at Pepperbelly's.  It was similar, but not exactly the same.  It was fun visiting with those who came.  We didn't do fireworks like we usually do, but they did do sparklers, which the kids had fun with.  Grandma also had glow in the dark bracelets.  Monday I was planning on going to the parade.  I realized however that it was right during nap time.  I ended up sending Isabelle with her grandparents.  My sister is in the marching band.  Actually, she is in the color guard.  She made the weapons line.  She has really enjoyed throwing her rifle around. Personally I think that the flags are more fun.  Plus the riffles hurt more when you whack yourself with it.  I heard the parade was better than last year's, which was good but went on way too long. Ww had a barbe-que at my parents, and then went back up to Grandma W's for the fireworks.  We can walk from her house down to the show the city puts on.  We were a little worried that the baby wouln't like the fireworks, but he was too busy climbing all over everyone lying on the blanket to nice the lights in the sky.  Even the loud booms didn't seem to faze him.

The rest of the week I spent up at the high school taking a class to learn about the new common core for language arts.  It isn't a lot different from what we have done in the past.  The biggest different is that we are supposed to push the students for deeper understanding and more analysis.  A lot of things moved down a grade or two from where it was being taught in the past.  There was at least a grade difference before where they seniors were finishing and where they were supposed to be as a freshman in college.  It will be interesting to see how this goes.

Last week my husband left for Africa and I went camping.  It is late however, and I have lots of pictures of camping.  Although some of them I have to get from my sister since my camera died at the end of the first day.  I will post all about that tomorrow.  I am going to try and do better about posting. 

Late Nights All Around

I have had some good posts lately.  There was the one about the yard, about Tristan's eating, about Isabelle's potty training, Easter of course (didn't you like the egg hunt pictures), and the progress in the basement.   What! You don't remember any of those!  OK, so that is some of what I would have written about if I had time.  The last two weeks have been crazy busy.  First off all my students turned in their research papers.  It takes me 10-15 minutes to go through each one, so that ends up being around 30 hours of correcting.  That of course is just the research papers and not anything else they have turned in.  I am down to about 40 of them left!  I might finish this week.  They are actually doing testing, which is a great time to get some of it done.  To show how busy we have been, let me tell you about our week. 
On Saturday Thomas was supposed to take pictures of my brother's family.  It was an outdoor photo shoot, and it got postponed until Monday due to rain, so that is how our week started.  We rushed home from work. Thomas was late because of a meeting at work. We took the kids to Grandma's and we went to do the pictures.  On the way home we stopped to pick up some pictures of Isabelle for her spotlight poster at school that was supposed to be done over the weekend, but we forgot to get the pictures printed.  We then we to Grandma's house to get the kids and look at her washing machine, which had been having problems. It didn't seem like a big problem, but it took longer than expected to fix. Plus Castle started and I got sucked in.  We didn't get home until about 10.  Late night for everyone.  
Tuesday was the one day we didn't have anything planned ahead of time; however, the washer was put back together wrong and was leaking.  Back we went to Grandma's house to fiddle with the silly machine.  After an hour or so, the great oracle (otherwise known as the internet) was consulted and they found the offending seal and how it should be installed.  Second late night.  I think that was also the day Husband went to the doctor to get  vaccinations for his upcoming trip. He got stabbed about four times. He complained all day about his sore arm and his Typhoid Fever symptoms.   Apparently they are noting compared to the Yellow Fever he is getting this Monday.
Wednesday  was parent teacher conferences. I had forgotten to tell Thomas about them, and he had forgotten to tell me that he was working a double.  Due to complications with the schedule he had to open and close.  Luckily he was able to come home and pick the kids up and watch them until Grandma got home when he went back to work.  It was about 8 when I got there to pick them up. Third late night for Thomas, normal night for the rest of us.  Normal being sometime after 9:00 but hopefully before 10:00.  Yes that includes the three year old.  She is such a night owl, and the sun being up later is not helping. 
Thursday was Book Club.  This is one of my favorite nights of the month. It is one of the few times I get to go out and socialize. This month's book was called Elegance of the Hedgehog..  It was an interesting book, and we had some interesting discussion; however, I was only about half way through the book.  I always stay later then I intend to because I have so much fun.  This month's book club host is actually Grandma's neighbor, so everyone else had played at Grandma's while I was gone.  By the time I got back to grandma's house, finished visiting there, and went home, it was almost ten.  Another late night.
Friday we had Tristan's 9 month doctor's appointment.  I went straight from work to day care, and from there I went straight to the doctor's office.  We got there right on time.  The receptionist however, could not find us in the computer.  Turns out that our appointment was the day before.  I know that we scheduled the appointment for Friday.  They usually give us a reminder call, but they didn't this time.  There may have been a small scene in the reception area, but we won't go into all that.  Suffice it to say that even though the doctor was not there (camping I think is what they told us) we were able to see his nurse who told us that there aren't any shots at 9 months.  We were also able to weight and measure him.  He is still 0 percentile for height and 5th percentile for weight.  We think he seems huge, but apparently he is still on the bottom of the chart.  That just means he is easier to lug around.  After that we went home and had dinner.  Thomas' uncle is in town, so he went to visit him.  I went to my aunts house to pick some things up that got left behind at Easter.  Then it was home to bed. 
Saturday I actually ran in a 5K.  I got up and rode my bike to the Jr. high were the race was starting.  When I was about half way there I realized I was thirsty.  Luckily they had water bottles they were handing out.  I did not run the race, but I didn't walk the whole thing either.  I would speed walk for a while, then jog a few paces usually passing irritating Jr. high students.  The race went past my house.  Thomas and the kids were in the driveway watching.  It was cute and he said they had a lot of fun. I finished in almost exactly 42 minutes, which was better than expected.  I rode my bike back home and got some snacks.  I started having tunnel vision, my arm went numb.  This was followed by a headache, which lasted all day.  We have decided that I maybe got overheated, but mostly was dehydrated.  This made my other Saturday activities (helping change the oil in my car and a surprise birthday party for my brother in law) less enjoyable.  I was also supposed to go with my husband to go see Uncle Bob again, but I stayed home instead.  I gave the kids their bathes, and we all went to bed.  The end of a very long and busy week.

Did you notice that the first four days involved going to grandma's house. 

Also, Tristan has started crawling.  He generally doesn't go very far.  Today however, he went from the office into his sisters room, where she had left a half eaten piece of chocolate.  needless to say, Tristan has now enjoyed his first chocolate.  I hope that things are better next week. I am going to post this and then go to bed.  The entire family will be in bed and possibly asleep by 9:30! That is amazing.

I  should also be getting some pictures up soon.  Is it too late to put up Easter pictures? I also have some race pictures.