First Week of School

Kelley started school last week.  She loves it so far and seems to be doing really well.  She said she really wanted to make new friends (of course!).  Her first day Joey came home for lunch so I could walk her down there.  She seemed to fit right in and went right to the play area.  I didn't want to leave, not because I was sad, but because I wanted to stay and see how she did and what she would learn.  I am so excited for her to start this part of her life and I think she will just thrive in school.

Also - I have to let the whole world know...I FINALLY got a batch of raspberry jam done!!!!  And it is SO good.  Never mind the corn and beans I still have to finish up and the load of stuff I will probably pick up when we go out tomorrow.  I got something done...it's pretty exciting stuff for me.

Will it last?/Is it worth it?/Lost tooth/Life is crazy

I couldn't decide what to name my post, so you get all the things I've been thinking about lately. Kelley and I went out to the garden again yesterday. I love spending time with her out there, she gets so excited about picking the beans and berries and corn. It's fun to sit and talk with her and see what crazy things she comes up with. I can't help but think "Will this last?" Will she always want to come out and spend time with me? What can I do to continue to foster this excitement. Toward the end of the evening she was NOT in the mood to help any longer. I suppose the answer to my question is probably no, it probably won't last. But I'm loving it right now. And if we get nothing else out of the garden I've got a lot of good work and time with my family.

On that same note I've come to the point where I have to ask myself "Is it worth it?" Last year the raspberry patch was left to the weeds and didn't produce anything significant. I love raspberries and so this year was determined to get some fruit and make some jam this year. It's been doing pretty good so far, but for those of you that have ever picked them, you know what a battle it can be. I've had permanent scratches on my arms for weeks now. They are just little, but they just get healed and I go back out, scratching myself all up again. It's been so hot I can't bring myself to wear long sleeves. If you are not aware raspberry bushes are extremely prickly. We have two patches and the one isn't real bad, it's small and so I can basically find all the berries without getting right in the middle of it. But there's another huge patch that isn't producing nearly as well so I have to get right in the middle of it and wade through the bushes. Yesterday I made the mistake of wearing capris. Won't do that again. Anyway, I think it is worth it, but even with all the forays into the patch, I haven't got enough for a batch of jam yet! I think I did yesterday, but didn't buy the right stuff to do it...arggg...hopefully it will be better. I've posted some pictures of the garden also. As you can see, it literally is more weeds than anything else. I've also got to the point where I don't really care so much. I figure whatever's going to grow now will, weeds or not, so I've been focused only on harvesting. Oh well.

Kelley lost her first real tooth yesterday. She was so proud because she pulled it out herself. It had been hanging by a thread for two days, but she wouldn't let daddy just yank it. She actually already had her two front top teeth pulled earlier this year. When she was 2 she fell and smacked them on the concrete. This weakened them to the point where they were totally decayed and eating at the roots. Her other bottom front tooth is pretty loose also so soon she'll have all four front teeth gone. She's exicted to be able to stick a spoon through the hole...go figure.

Finally....for those of you who haven't seen the news...on Friday a doctor from Cedar City and most of his office staff was killed in a firery plane crash near Moab. Ten people total died. Joey and I had just been to his office for the first time within the last month. His son, Dallin was on board and was the medical assistant that helped me out there. I've been thinking about it all weekend. There are so many peices to pick up now. Dallin left behind a wife that's 8 months pregnant. One of the nurses had just got engaged last week. There was a single mom on board and one of the girls lost a sister to suicide just last year..so now her parents have lost two daughters within a year. My brother in law put it well I think. There just seems to be so much unfinished business. It just struck me that you never know what life will hand you. We were just there. I remember we waited FOREVER in the lobby and that Dallin seemed so young to me. I also remember a little old man out in the lobby as well with this huge sore on his head. He seemed like he wasn't maybe all there and came in to see the doctor without an appointment. The sore looked really serious, like maybe cancer or something and it seemed that he had been kind of sent from place to place. I've thought of him and wonder what will happen to him now that the doctor is gone. Will anyone else know to follow up with him? Everything happens for a reason and I know that. I have felt like things will be OK for the families, somehow, but it just all seems so tragic and makes me grateful for each new day that I have. It makes me feel a bit like I ought to value my time a little more than I do.

I can't help but BRAG

Are these two not the cutest things you've ever seen? Honestly...

I finally convinced Tyler to wear this suit again. He's had it for almost two years, but as you can imagine it was kind of too big for a while. Now it really fits him, but he never wants to wear it...I can't figure out why, he's so DASHING in it. This week I finally convinced him with the old "Don't you want to wear a tie just like daddy?" argument. As you can see, Kelley is the mother hen as always prodding and pushing him into it more than I.

The other day I said "Tyler needs a haircut again". Kelley said "Why don't we give him a buzz cut?" I told her we couldn't because Daddy said it would cut off all his personality. She asked what personality was and I tried to explain it's the way you laugh, the things you say, the type of person you are. So a minute later she comes back with "Well, if you cut my hair like yours then what will happen?" (Mine is quite a bit shorter than hers.) I said "then you'll look like me" She then asked "Well what about my personality?" Smart kid...

Final note for tonight: You know you watch too much "What not to wear" with your kids when...

Kelley was trying on her new school clothes today and she didn't want me to watch because she wanted it to be a surprise: "You know, like on the clothing show, you don't come out until you look 'fantastic'".

Eat Abba-Zabbas!

A couple of months ago I asked the lady at our candy store to stock abba-zabbas and she did. I was so excited until today I found out I am the only one at SUU that eats them. She is going to discontinue them when they expire. She commented that one person other than me had tried one and said she didn't like them.What's up with that, it's peanut butter for cryin' out loud!

Neglected Husbands

You know it is funny how you wives never mention us husbands in your blogs… yeah I've been poking around. Even Kristy has failed to mention me on several occasions. Just an observation, I'll go back to my garage now.

Memory Lane

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be fun to see what (if anything) people come up with. :)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! I guess good or bad but be nice!!!!!!!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Family Pics

Here's some pics of my side of the family from our reunion this summer. We had a LOT of fun. Next year we are going to relax and play in Mesquite...can't wait!

Wrinkles

Kelley asked me tonight, "When will I get ribs on my forehead?" I was confused until she explained that she was talking about wrinkles...not sure where she confused it with ribs...but whatever. Anyway, I said "Well mommy is starting to get some" and she said "yeah, cause your old right?" I had to laugh. She then went on to point out to me that her grandma's all have LOTS of wrinkles on their foreheads because they are old too. (Sorry grandmas!) I thought it was funny....

If the Olympics were held in Rural Utah...

So I've mentioned our garden in New Harmony. Now that it's harvest time Kelley LOVES to go out there, but it's still a lot of work. Last Thursday we went out and it had been raining the last few days so the ground was really wet. I decided to tackle the raspberry patch. We have a big patch and the berries are doing great, but so are the milkweeds! There were many that were nearly as tall or taller than I was. I've tried to pull them before but when the ground is dry it's impossible. Because the patch is so "healthy" (the plants are almost up to my chest and spread everywhere) you can't really just walk up and down the rows picking weeds. It was like a jungle excursion. To get the weeds out of the patch without going in and out (nearly impossible, once your in, you in until your done) I came up with my own idea for an Olympic sport...I call it milkweed javelin. Those things throw quite nicely. Could be funny...

I'm DONE with my 2 summer classes. This last week was CRAZY, but I survived, getting 100% on my last test and all three assignments I turned in last week. I'll get an A and an A-. I'm signed up for some classes in the fall, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like maybe for now, my energy is best spent other places. We had stake conference this week and the focus was all about family and how we spend our time. There were several references to the talk "Good, Better, Best" given last year at conference. I think school is Good, even Great, but not it's the best for me right now... I don't know, I haven't decided for sure. I like taking classes, but I think I have a lot of valuable information already that I could use to improve the daycare and my family...which has been my reasoning for taking the classes in the first place.

I've included a picture of Kelley that I thought was so funny. She loves books. The other night she was "reading" using her finger to trace the words and she fell asleep like this. I also put one in of Tyler, "chilling". He spent half of his time at the playground in this thing... Finally I put a few pics of Kelley in her soccer uniform. She was playing and I started taking pictures. She started posing like a pro...I just wish my delay wasn't so much in between photos! She got so caught up in that she didn't realize they were starting play again!

I was made for cramming

So I just finished up one of my two summer classes I was taking. I've been frustrated all semester because every time I took a test I couldn't seem to get better than an 84 or 86 on the stupid things. I did much better than that in college generally and I even slept through half my classes. This class I was actually reading the textbook, which I NEVER did before. AUGH! Well we had 8 tests and they were basically go at your own pace. So this week I ended having to finish 4 of them between Saturday and today because I've been so busy with the daycare and other assignments that I have put these off. Anyway, I got better scores on these last 4 tests than any of the others...90, 88, 96 (!) and 90. The last test I didn't even actually read the chapters, just skimmed the definitions and summaries. So all that time in college I didn't need to feel guilty for being such a slacker (writing 10 page papers the night before they were due, sleeping through class, cramming for tests)...I was just doing what I was made for!

As a side note, I wrote the research paper for this class...the night it was due and got a 100% and ended up with an A- in the class. 100% on all but one assignment, but those darn tests....

Of course

So I'm sitting here, trying to sift through my email and catch up on blogs, that kind of thing. My son comes in and is just hanging out, when I get the nagging feeling...it's WAY too quiet. But he's standing literally right next to me, he can't be getting into trouble...oh, but wait, there was a SHARPIE right next to me too...

Then he says to me "I need a bath mommy..." HA!

Fruits of our Labor

This year we were given a patch of land in New Harmony (just south of Cedar City) on which to plant a garden. Joey's parents live out there and have a great garden spot that they were willing to share. We've been working really hard on it whenever we can, but it still seems like more weeds than anything else. One of these days I'll get pictures up. But this week we went out and there were raspberries ready to pick! Kelley was really gung ho about them and so we ended up with a bunch at home. She sat there all night eating them, but then told me "Daddy said if you eat too many berries you will get a 'berry ache'." She thought she was terribly funny...so did we.

Tyler loves to play ball! When we go outside if the pools not out he heads straight for the ball and bat and comes up to me "Can you throw?". On this day he set up the rugs so they were side by side and had to have one foot on each for proper form. He's actually pretty good at it and when he doesn't hit it says good naturedly "oh man! I missed" or "almost"...