I got the kids' school pictures back the other day. I think they turned out pretty cute this year. The people that do the school pictures will let you bring in siblings at a certain time to get their pictures done too, so we did that with Caleb. I figure it's lots cheaper than Kiddie Kandids or somewhere like that!Apparently I scanned Nash crooked.

These last two pics are ones we had done when we were in Jackson in August. Zoom in on the one of the boys if you can. I love this picture!

Eat, Pray, Love Review

My sister asked me how I was liking Eat, Pray, Love because she didn't like it and had to put it down. I just finished it and I must say that I loved it! I admit, there is a bit of language - a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end - but it didn't bother me because it wasn't a lot. I think what I liked about the book was that I could totally put myself in the author's shoes. (It's sort of an autobiography.) The author starts out miserable and wants out of her marriage (not where I relate) and ends up going on an amazing year long journey to find herself and to find God. She doesn't find God in the traditional sense that we in Utah are accustomed to, but she finds what she needs and I can relate to it. So many times I found myself laughing out loud in bed at 1 am because of some thought the author had and I was going "Oh my heck! I've thought that same thing but it sounds SO funny reading it!" I really didn't want the book to end and now I'm curious as to how the ending really ended (not giving it away). So, now I am going to wait for my mom to read the book & then I'm going to make her go see the movie with me!

Speaking of books gone movie: Trav rented Percy Jackson for me to watch last night. I really liked it, but I was disappointed at what they chose to leave out of the movie. I'm not sure how they'll go about doing a movie for #2 now. Guess we'll have to wait and see. My mother in law did finally finish number three though so now I can add that to my currently reading list! Good thing I don't have a "Waiting on my bookshelf" list or I'd be embarrassed!

Brad Paisley Concert

We took the kids to see Brad Paisley in concert on Friday, Sept. 24. It was a surprise - we didn't tell them where we were going until we picked them up from school & were on the road. They were super excited. The concert was at USANA and we actually got to see/hear Josh Thompson, Easton Corban, Steel Magnolia, Justin Moore, Darius Rucker & Brad Paisley. Brad Paisley didn't come on until 9 pm (we were there at 3:50 b/c the gates opened at 4) but he played for 2 hours. Travis thought this concert of his was better than the one we went to in 08. Nash ended up falling asleep on a blanket at 10:30. Samantha cried b/c she could feel the bass in her chest & "it hurt". I told her it wasn't even that loud! She should stand next to the speakers! We had the pleasure of sitting next to a group of obnoxious 20 somethings that got so drunk I wanted to smack them all. One girl totally face planted - the kids & I laughed at that. There were SO many guys wearing their pants tucked into their cowboy boots I wanted to just walk up and ask them if they were trying to look stupid. Seriously? Tucking pants into cowboy boots. Wow - you don't stick out like a sore thumb now do you? We saw lots of "interesting" people too. I was surprised at the age range of people there. I saw older couples (like my grandparents) clear up to kids younger than mine. I guess everybody loves Brad Paisley! Caleb got to spend the night at Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris' house while we went. It was his first sleep over without his siblings. Good thing he had grandpa to shadow!

Finally!

Things have been fairly "normal" around here since my last post. Kids are going to school and I've been taking Caleb to Laura's after I drop Nash off at Kindergarten so I can get a few things done. Nash & Samantha have been more than thrilled to be going back to Laura's house so they get to play with Zeke and Carter. It's odd not to hear "Can I go play with Carter?" fifteen times a week anymore! ;)

Tomorrow I will go to Nash's class to help with centers and then get to go every Wednesday after that. Last night while I was teaching English, my student told me she thinks that she just needs another week or two of me coming. Guess we'll see how that turns out. It really wouldn't hurt my feelings if that was the case. Why? Because I never realized how much I like having my nights! I also didn't realize how many things go on in the evening that I want to go and be a part of! Oh well.

I took Nash back into the ENT yesterday because his ear has been draining for (I kid you not) 3 weeks. Gross. Dr. Blotter gave us more ear drops and a cream to put on the outside of his ear (it was getting all scabby). He told me we should notice a difference within 2-3 days. I could already see a difference this morning! I also asked him to look in Sam's ears while we were there to see if the holes from her tubes had closed up. He said her right ear looks great. Her left ear is really thin on the ear drum though and he said if she gets an ear infection that the likelihood of her ear drum rupturing is pretty high. Great. At least I'll know what all the nasty stuff on her pillow is when that happens, right?

Sam is still dancing 2 times a week. I broke down and bought her the new ballet shoes she wanted last week. Hers were getting snug (more snug than they should have been). She wanted some of these that only go over her toes and have a bit of leather on the ball of the foot. She whipped the, "But all the girls in my class have THIS kind mom!" Ok, fine. Turns out they are about half the price too. Nice call sis! She's getting ready to do the USU homecoming parade on Oct. 23rd. Anyone want to come watch with the boys & I? I know, it's a ways off!

I am feeling a bit special right now because I'm trying to read about three books at once. I just finished Lemon Tart and I would highly recommend it to anyone. The author is from SLC but lives in Willard now. I was all excited to go to the library and get the second book (English Trifle) but much to my dismay, I had to get on the waiting list for it. So, I have settled for The Hunger Games. I'm also reading Eat, Pray, Love. It's pretty funny, but I will warn you, the "f" word is used a lot more than I expected. I think I'll have to go see the movie after I finish this book - which is the exact opposite of what I usually want to do! I'm also still working on JackDaws (WW2). I haven't picked it up for a bit though because I've had library books. It's sitting on my nightstand though and I'll get back to it eventually.

My sister is still calling her baby Cletus the Fetus. Awesome. She informed me that my nephew wants to name it Cinderella if it's a girl and Bob if it's a boy. Nash thinks those are good names too. Samantha only likes the name Cinderella. Good luck with that Cass! It's killing me to know I have to wait until Oct. 21 for her to have her ultrasound so I can find out if I have to listen to Samantha whine about how Jade gets a sister, why can't she? Maybe I'll tell her it's a boy no matter what! I'm so mean.

I have now got my entire table covered in sewing projects. In fact, it's spilled over onto the computer desk and around the ironing board. I told my mom she needs to quit telling me when stuff is on sale b/c I need to finish what I've started before I buy more! I've got to get my butt in gear though and get some stuff done so I can get a booth or an etsy website up and running no later than mid October.

Oh, I finally broke down and bought some of the child proof door knob covers yesterday. I put one on the inside of the kid's bedroom so that Caleb can't jump out of bed before I'm out of the room & get the door open! It was going pretty good last night until I woke up around 5 and realized he was in my bed. I always open their bedroom door before I go to bed. I took a picture of what my bed looked like this morning. Wait until you see it!

I had pictures to post, but my Kodak Easyshare software is being stubborn and won't load right now. Boo.

Teaching English

Who knew you'd need to know so much Spanish in order to teach English? Oh yeah, I did!

I am liking this job so far. It's giving me a chance to practice my rusty Spanish while I teach someone else English. That's been nice. Since I've graduated from USU I really haven't had the chance to practice it with anyone. The kids of course always like to know vocabulary words in Spanish, but not conjugating verbs and carrying on conversations. Actually, I think Samantha would - she's weird like me that way. Poor girl!

I am going over to Brigham Monday through Thursday from 6-7:30 pm. The first time I went over I worked with both the husband and the wife and we met at the library. Originally I was told that neither one of them speak any English. Um...WRONG. The husband actually speaks a lot of English. He just needs to practice with a fluent speaker so he can get the pronunciations down. The wife I think just needs a confidence boost. I found out tonight she can read English! Sorry, but that's a far stretch from "She can't speak any English." So, tomorrow I am going to take sight words & fry phrases over with me as well as some simple picture books. Guess we'll start piecing words together to see if they make any sense to her. Their 4 yr old speaks English about as fluently as my own children. Hopefully if I can help her read English she can read to him. That might be a way off, I know. One might hope though, right?

The only thing I don't like is that it is at night. I didn't realize how much I liked having my nights at home. I keep telling myself it's only 4 days a week and it's only an hour and a half, so I can do it. It isn't even an hour commute - only 20 minutes! The other part that stinks about it being at night is that I have all 3 kids at daycare. Good thing Laura loves me & charges me what she does! ;) She does need more kids during the day though, so if you're lookin'....

Anyway, that's pretty much all we've been up to. Oh! I almost forgot. We have grass! It isn't a ton and it can't be mowed yet, but, we've got grass sprouting up. That's good enough for me! And, I haven't even killed it by forgetting to water it yet! Lets hope that trend continues!

Going Digital!

When I was in Oregon my cousin Ashlee showed me how to do digital scrapbooking. When I got home, Scott put Adobe Photoshop on my computer. I've had the chance to play with it once. Last night I sat down and put together the "All About Me" page they wanted Nash to bring on the first day of school. On Monday they are suppose to bring a timeline of their life because they are learning about change over time. So, here is my masterpiece! As my mother would say, "I'm so full of proudness!"

It really is a small world...

We went to the orthopedist this morning. They x-rayed Sam's arm and said everything looked good. Then the drama started (I swear, she needs Drama Queen tattooed on her forehead). They cut her cast off (as she was trying to run away - no, I'm not kidding). We got to wash her arm with soap and water (there wasn't even any sand in it!). She decided she wanted red this time instead of pink. We also asked if we could get waterproof and were happy when Dr. Finlayson said "Yes." After much squirming (not sure why, it didn't hurt) and quite a bit of loudness (not screams, just, well - loudness) she had a new cast. She told me when her friends asked her where all their names had gone she was going to tell them she washed them off. Apparently she did too!

After our visit with Dr. Finlayson I dropped Sam off to my mom (she already had the boys & it was almost 11) and headed to Brigham. Mom got both the kids off to school and kept Caleb. After passing the library like 4 times, I finally figured out which building it was. They really should have a sign facing the road not the parking lot! It addition to that, it was peach days, so there were a lot of cars everywhere! I went inside to find Jeanette (the lady that I spoke with on the phone yesterday) and come to find out, she's the mom of one of the students I had last year! What a small world after all! This job is through a company called Futures Through Training. I didn't even interview. Jeanette had all the paperwork for me to fill out, I met the couple I'll be teaching English to and we figured out a schedule. When I tutor both of them at the same time I'll actually get paid more than when I tutor just one of them at a time. They are also going to pay me for my prep time (that's a nice change from the public school system!). I will be going over Monday-Thursday from 6-8 pm (Sorry Tannie - I thought I was going to be able to come to your book club! I'll send you an email.) I'm going to try and take Sam & Nash with me and just set them up in the corner with coloring, books, and homework. I know Sam will be fine (she'll read for ever) but Nash might be another story. I'm going to take Caleb back to the same place I was taking him while I was teaching for the last two years. He should be excited to play with the boys again!

And on a completely random note - I did a digital scrapbook page last night for Nash for school. The only thing I think I did wrong was I thought it saved and apparently it didn't. Oh well, I did print it!

Job hunt

Since I applied for unemployment recently I have had to start applying for 2 jobs a week. I've been pretty picky - only choosing things that wouldn't cost me money to go to work, which severely limits the possibilities these days.

On Sunday I applied for 2 part time jobs over in Brigham. One was for a math tutor and one was teaching English/English tutor. I hadn't heard anything and just figured big surprise. Today though, I got a phone call from the person looking to hire the English tutor. She told me that her supervisor had gone over my resume and that it looked like I'd be the perfect fit for the job. It's part time and the hours are basically whenever the students don't have to work. The students are a husband and a wife. Her schedule varies but he doesn't get off work until around 5 or so. They'd pay me $10/hr. so if I can keep it so that I just have Caleb in daycare, it shouldn't cost me too much to accept this job. I for sure don't want to be making more than 1 trip a day over to Brigham, but it sounds like they're pretty flexible, so I think it will be ok.

The only hang up is that I have to provide all the curriculum. Great. Good thing I've taught English to a bunch of Spanish only speakers before!

Despite the providing of my own curriculum, I think I will like this job. And, as long as I don't make more than 30% of my weekly unemployment amount or work 40 hours, I should be able to still get unemployment.

I'm suppose to meet them tomorrow at the Brigham library, so, we'll see how it goes!

Labor Day Weekend

What a whirlwind weekend (week actually, since Travis has been home)!

The kids are into the full swing of things at school. We are doing homework regularly and trying to get back into reading together for 20 minutes every day. Nash is really loving the fact that he gets to go to a big school and learn things like his sister. Samantha, well, she's always excited about school (she's weird, like her mother). Caleb is a bit lost when both kids are gone. He wanders around the house following me around like a puppy. He's been really good, he's just become a hardcore "mama's boy." I have managed to get some fall cleaning done while the kids have been at school. The only time Caleb hasn't been exactly helpful is when I climbed up on the ladder to take down my light fixtures and he decided he wanted to shake the ladder while mom was on top. Next week I think I'm going to take him to my girlfriend's house for a few hours a day while both of the other kids are at school so he can play and I can finish up my cleaning!

This past Saturday we went to Bear Lake (or Brrr Lake if you ask me). We had planned to go to Flaming Gorge for the Labor Day weekend, but with Sam's arm and her missing so much school already because of it, I couldn't justify letting her miss another day for vacation. So, luckily I was able to convince my mother in law that we should go to Bear Lake. I thought we were going to go camping over there for the weekend, but it turned out that we only went for 1 day. This was good though because the day we went was supposed to be the nicest day and it wasn't that great weather wise. (Surprise!) I swear there was 4 million people at Bear Lake the same day as us! This is what we had to one side of us:

This was looking down the other side:
We were literally sitting at the edge of the water. I was sitting in my chair when I took these pictures so you can see how close I am to the edge. If we had backed up any further, we would have been on top of someone else!

Caleb loved playing in the sand and water and not hearing mom say, "No Caleb!"
Uncle Robbie was the hero of the day because get got down and dirty with my boys & built a major sand castle with them. They were so excited about getting to build a sand castle. And the fact that Uncle Robbie was doing it with them, well that was just the icing on the cake! It was fun to watch them run back and forth to get some drier sand and then hustle to the edge of the water and dump their buckets and build their castle up. They even dug a moat around it and found sticks to use as bridges.

On Sunday Travis, Robbie and Trav's dad decided it was time to put in a front yard. We've only been here for 4 summers and I've asked about it every summer we've been here. What results do I get with my requests? Weeds, weeds, weeds, and more weeds! What does Trav do when his dad brings it up? This:
Hopefully we will have grass sprouting before the snow falls. Otherwise, it will be spring. Meanwhile, I'm in charge of keeping the dirt wet.

He decided he didn't like how I had put my pavers around the tree a few years ago, so he dug them up and redid them so he likes it now. His justification was that "You should like it better, there's more flowerbed space." Uh huh. Thanks.
Nothing quite like laboring over Labor Day weekend I guess, right? I labored too. I made enough dinner to feed the small army we had at our house. That was a job in itself! Not to mention I had 4-5 kids running around my house that I had the privilege of entertaining in between! Oh well, it all worked out and now I don't have to listen to anyone ask, "When are you gonna put in a front yard Travis?"

Sam's 1st day of school pix