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!