if you have some time to kill.......

check out these t-shirt designs! Tristan and I love to look at them and try to pick out our favorites. If we bought all the ones we love, we would be wearing a different shirt everyday for a long long time. It's a bonding thing.

http://www.threadless.com/

celebration!

Ever since the kids have been in school, we have celebrated the first day with ice cream! We went to Leatherby's on North Temple and shared a sundae sampler with 5 scoops of different ice cream. We had: arcadian avalanche, strawberry, orange sherbet, chocolate almond, and cookies 'n' cream. It was so yummy!

first day of school

Here's the kids ready for the first day of school. They had a great day and are glad to be back. Tristan is in 7th grade, Connor is in 4th and Anna is in 1st.

First day of school

Is tomorrow. watch for pictures and all the details soon.......

Let's get that negative post off the top!

I have so much in my life to be thankful for.

I have a wonderful husband who loves me very much. He is so patient and supportive of me. He works hard for our family doing things he really likes to do. He's a great dad too. I'm so glad he is my best friend.

I have 3 kids that are the best around! I love Tristan, the way he sucks in all the knowledge and remembers all of it! He's really growing up and it's fun to joke and tease with him. He's really good to help most of the time. He'll even watch his siblings for a while so I can run quick errands. He's a great kid. Connor is my happy easy going guy. I can depend on him to be positive in just about every situation. He will play with Anna and not even think it's a big deal. He's definitely a peace maker too. Anna is my baby, my sweetheart. She loves "girl time" and will shop like nobody's business. She has such a desire to learn (now pray pray pray that her teacher this year will jump at the chance to teach her! ).

I'm thankful that we no longer are living in the apartment. We've been in this house for a year now, and even though we are renting, even though we only have one bathroom and no dishwasher; I'm so very happy with where we are living. I'm so thankful we have a backyard where the kids can run and play and jump on the trampoline. I'm thankful that they can get their bikes by themselves and ride whenever they want to. I'm thankful that we don't have to tell the kids every 5 minutes to please stop walking to loudly!

What are you thankful for today?

Disappointed and a bit angry

If you don't want to read my rant, skip this entry.


Last year I served as our school's PTO president. Please know that I had no idea what I was doing, and probably just did an okay job. I'm fine with that. It wasn't an easy job because it was only the second year our school was even running. Also I started working and that in itself kept me plenty busy. But I did the best I could. Then when the year was over. I was DONE. The new presidency was decided and I pretty much forgot about PTO all summer long.

Well, I get back to school and find out that NOTHING had been done and the new president was not in contact with the school and wouldn't return calls. I panicked. I called the VP and asked if she would step in. She said she would. Finally the pres was reached and she said she didn't want to be the pres any more. FINE, just let us know so someone will do it!

I'm so angry with her. I think it makes me look bad and irresponsible. Now I am trying to help the VP get things together for school registration and back to school night. That's not an easy task when I'm working from 9-4 all day. I don't want to do this AT ALL. I had my turn. I know someone else could be doing a much better and through job. I just want to be finished and be able to move on and help when I'm needed. NOT be in charge. And since I work at the school, I'm really easy to contact. I don't know if it's still my responsibility, but I DO NOT WANT IT. sorry but that is the truth.

end rant

Due West is coming to Utah!

You may have noticed a link on my sidebar for Due West. If you click on the link it will take you to a site of a great band. In their sidebar, click on their myspace link and you can hear their music. They are great! The best part of all is that I went to school with the lead singer, Tim Gates. He's a great guy and an awesome singer.

Anyway, they are coming to Utah on September 5. I am so excited! Maybe we can plan a girl's night out and go to Park City and see them. Anybody with me?

Back to the grind

Monday marked my first day back to school. We have been in all kinds of trainings that will help me be a better paraprofessional (which is a fancy word for aide) and a better parent. I have learned so much!

Chris has had to work out of the house every day this last week, so Connor and Anna have been coming to school with me (Tristan is still at scout camp, but will be home this afternoon...YAY!). They've been such good kids, entertaining themselves and helping out with some chores around the school. I've got good kids.

I'm working in a classroom this year. It will be very different from what I did last year. I've been helping get things ready for the year and it's fun. I;m looking forward to something different, but I will miss my old job immensely (and working with capt. jac).

I'm working 3 full days this year, and have 2 off. I think it's a perfect arrangement for us.

On a side note that is totally random and weird, Anna is watching Tom and Jerry and the cat Tom was just singing a song. I thought they never spoke! That was a bit bizarre.

My scout

I took Tristan over to the church this morning at 6:30. He left for Scout Camp and won't be home until Saturday afternoon! My little boy is growing up! When did that happen?

Say a prayer that he doesn't get eaten by a bear. thanks!

I think I will miss him much more than he will miss me. I know he'll have a good time.

crazy? you tell me.....

My family loves homemade freezer jam. So I bought some ingredients to make us some strawberry jam.

This is my official strawberry jam pourer.
I made 4 pints.
The day before, I got a call from Chris's sister Lisa, asking if we wanted some peaches. The tree at his mom's house was overloaded. I said "sure, we'll find something to do with them."
So more lovely jam was made........

Notice how a strawberry is already missing. We had to open one right away.And then I canned some! WOW! what a job! I did 5 quarts and it felt like it took all day long! But they all sealed, and they didn't turn funny colors so I guess they turned out. I was pretty impressed with myself because I had never done this before.

Now I just need to can the other half of the box that is waiting for me in the kitchen. Oh and I know you are so jealous of my counter tops. Stop it! They are MINE!

mad skilz

Mad sewing skilz

Pile o'pants for my vertically challenge friend. to be made into shorter pants and also skirts.
Stefie has mad pinning skilz

End result of skirt! Cutest thing ever!

In the end we hemmed two pairs of jeans and made 3 skirts. Not bad for 3 hours. Poor Hayden starved to death, so I hope he will want to come back and play another time. I think Stefie's head almost exploded with all the domesticity. She did great!

Ward Campout

Last weekend, we went to our ward campout. We camped at a place called "Camp Ensign".

It was a pretty nice campground with running water and flushing toilets. The road was paved almost the whole way there. It was about an hour away from our house. Close, yet far enough away to be in the mountains.
We pitched our tent in the sandbox. I think it is usually used as a volleyball pit. Several other campers joined us. At least it was level. And not bumpy.
We had a chili cookoff. Chris was a judge. I didn't try the award winning chili. I'm sure it was good. We played the superlative game. This catergory was "longest". Tounge that is. Chris was almost the winner. Chad's was longer.
We found this bear sign in the morning. It was about 10 yards away from where we slept. It looked pretty fresh, as did the droppings that were found nearby. No worries though, nobody got eaten this time.
On Saturday we headed to the lake ( I don't even know the name of it) and Chris and the kids went for a canoe ride. I watched. They had fun.

We also had a movie, it was "The Princess Bride" , my favorite! We loved looking at the stars, they are just so bright in the mountains! We had a fun time.

projects in the works

There are a few projects I've been working on this summer that I want to get finished before I go back to work on August 11. The first one I just started is by request of Anna's new first grade teacher. She calls them "seat sacks" and they are little pouches that fit over the back of the chair with a small pocket for pencils and a big pocket for notebooks. She basically just gave me a picture and said "go for it". I made one and showed her and it wasn't quite what she had in mind so I changed it a bit (and 2.5 hours later) got a new design. Hopefully now that I've got it figured out the rest will be a piece of cake. I'm using old jeans that I've collected, so that should be interesting.

The other project I'm wanting to finish soon is Anna's bookcase. I decided to paint it. I sanded all the surfaces to rough them up and then primed it. This morning I put on the first coat of paint, and hope to be able to get another coat tomorrow. Then it will be finished and we can put the books back on the shelves and get rid of the massive box in Anna's room that I think is holding much more than books right now.

I also started a quilting project, but I'm not even going to attempt to finish that before the 11th. I doubt I'll even work on it until school starts again. I'm really looking forward to the 2 full days every week I'll have off work with no kids around! I'll be able to get so much done. Maybe I'll even dig out the scrapbooking!

I am going to be working in the 5th grade as a paraprofessional. The teacher I'm working with is probably the best teacher in the school. She's also one of my best friends. I'm really looking forward to it. I will really miss working in the learning center though. Miss Stefie and I were a great team!