My hopes for Kindergarten...

*Love of Learning.
*Continued Enthusiasm.
*Learning to Read.
*New Friends.
*Expanding Horizons.
*The thrill of 'growing up'.
*Fun, Fun, FUN.

In Honor of My Finisher Post

This made me laugh.

It's a Fantasy World

I drafted my fantasy football team on Friday. I snagged Philip Rivers as my Quarterback and Steven Jackson as my Running Back. I don't know who they are either, but they better put up or shut up because I'm building my team around them. Oh, you're surprised. I don't seem like the football type. Well, you are right aside from an awesome Aggie True Blue Football game. I'm not a huge fan, especially of the NFL. BUT...I AM a fan of FANTASY FOOTBALL.

The benefits:

• Whooping on some die hard football fans with my unconventional look at drafting.
• Learning a few football players so I can carry on a conversation with my brother in law.
• Griping about which QB is a flop this year and bragging rights on snagging the best wide receiver.

You get to manager of your own team of players taken from different real life teams. They gather points each week depending on their real life stats. You can trade, bench and what not with all your players. What's really great is that it seems like those that start out without a clue often get great teams and whoop those that spend hours researching the best players.

You know you want to do it....you can sign up here: Yahoo Fantasy Football

Today, I'm a Finisher.

And I have the 'major award' to prove it.

Mike and I received these medals as we crossed the finish line for the Legacy Parkway 20 Mile Bike Tour today. 20 Miles and I feel fine. It was a great ride, and despite the fact I did very little to prepare for this ride *Blush*. It was SUPPOSED to help me stay on the bike all summer and though I failed somewhat miserably at the training the ride was one of the best ever...muscle wise.

The lanyard got me to thinking though about finishing. I'm not always a great finisher. I am a great STARTER, but it is much harder to be a finisher. Ideas seem to swirl around me, I get excited and start...then too often I fizzle. I don't want to be a fizzler. I want to be a finisher. So I think I may just keep this award somewhere handy where I can see it and remember what its like to FINISH!

*Thanks Mike for being a finisher with me today. It was a lot of fun doing it with you.
*Next year its 50 miles around Bear Lake...right Peggy?

Counting Ribs

Mike has a game he plays with the kids called 'counting ribs'. He started it back when Emily was just little. It goes a little something like this.

1. Find the rib.
2. Tickle the rib.
3. Count the rib.

This was how Emily learned to count to 10, and Tim learned what number came after.

Once when Mike was counting Emily's ribs...she must have been about 3 he reached ten and then we all yelled 'Yeah!' So the next time we got to counting Tim added 'Yeah' for the number right after 10.

This counting tradition has continued through all the kids in their preschool years and it is now Ethan's turn.

One variation that Mike likes to add is to purposefully count wrong and the kids have to tell him which one he missed which of course leads to another counting. Have to get it right you know.

Well Ethan has caught on to this...and even though Mike made it straight through 1-10 when he got done Ethan said, 'You missed one!' Mike answered, 'I did? Which one?'

ZERO

Perhaps Tim will have some competition as the number whiz in the family.

I'm sorry I put 120 miles on your car.

You've seen those books right? Something grandly magnificent or horrible happens all because you let the fly in? Well this is what I told my sister today.

I'm sorry I put 120 miles on your car.

Yesterday my car went up in plumes of steam and radiator stench...twice. A few days before I bottomed out on a weird driveway. The two scenarios couldn't possibly related could they?

Well the answer is I don't know. It seems that it was a bad day at Tunex...mechanics out and no room in the parking lot. I took my car in at 10:00 and at 5:30 the official word was.

"We didn't get a chance to look at your car yet, do you want to come get it?"

Um... are you crazy? This car has problems. It needs to be fixed. And it may need therapy. No, thank you, I think I'll leave it there.

Meanwhile...life goes on. School starts, band instruments must be obtained. The nasty 70 buck per month--6 month minimum rental agreement from the local music store got me thinking. Perhaps there is another way. YES there IS another way. I arrange to buy said instrument in a town merely 25 minutes away but upon calling to confirm I was indeed on my way...which he knew from the emails we exchanged, I found out he was a double dealer. Yep apparently he had someone else on their way to pick it up as we spoke. Either that or he was terribly confused and thought I (AS SCHEDULED) was on my way and my alter ego wanted to buy it first. Whatever. So short story long, I drove 2 1/2 hours today and put 120 miles on my sisters car to buy ANOTHER beautiful instrument. Thanks Joan--I owe you BIG!

I am now the proud owner of a tenor saxophone...and Tim gets to use it.

The thrill of the *pop*

Do you can? No, not the can-can. Can...bottle, store food for later? If so you are very familiar with the thrill of the *pop*. If not, let me try to explain.

You reap what you sow.
Many hands make light work.



Some other corny cliche. Blah Blah Blah.

But the end result is a beautiful bottle of food conveniently stored until you need it on some dark stormy winter night and you know it worked when you hear the

*POP*

I LOVE that sound.

My hopes for 8th grade...

*Interesting Topics.
*Newspaper Articles.
*Stretching Talents.
*Clarinet Melodies.
*Good Friends, good surroundings.
*Challenging workload.
*Own Locker.
*Sense of Accomplishment.
*Fun, Fun, FUN!

My hopes for 3rd Grade...

*Challenges.
*Excitement.
*Exciting Expeditions.
*New Talents.
*Stretching.
*Can-Do Attitude.
*Friends...one or two really good ones.
*Smiles.
*Fun, Fun, FUN

My hopes for 6th Grade...

*Relearning a Love of Math.
*A look at a latent Drawing Talent.
*Beautiful Tenor Sax tones.
*Visiting a locker without the fear of EVERYTHING falling out on me.
*Old, Stronger Friends--and some new ones too.
*Exciting Expeditions.
*Learning Moments.
*Fun, Fun, FUN...

My 7 day Blog Challenge--you can do it too.

In honor of Brenda and her poor info deprived life, :) I have challenged myself to make a blog entry at least once a day for the next 7 days. I'm sure Brooke, my sweet sister in law who loves to have comments on her blog but NEVER comments on my blog, ;) will laugh at me because she has been blogging EVERY SINGLE DAY since the beginning of the year. That is hard work. I guess I'll cut her some slack...a little but not all. So anywho...any of you that want to join me in my challenge make a little note at the bottom, then Brenda will know who's blog to go look at for the next, very exciting, week.

Random Zoo pics...you can caption.

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The Ties That Bind...

What is it you may ask that binds us together? Why can cousins that only see each other sporadically and know little of each other's lives feel a bond that can't be broken? I suspect it's all Elijah's fault. Turning the hearts of the children to their fathers is indeed the process that binds even those on Earth together.

Last week we had a family reunion. The cousins we saw are really my Dad's first cousins, but the generations are staggered as he is old enough to be their father and I am young enough to be their child....well almost. My cousin Sharon was married on my birthday. When Keith and Sharon asked my parents if they would be able to come to the wedding, the story goes that my Mom answered with regret that even though I wasn't due for a couple of weeks they wouldn't make it because they would be having a baby that day. Sharon and I like it that we can quickly calculate their wedding anniversary/my birthday so easily.

Another cousin we saw was Leonard and his wife Lori. Despite our infrequency of family get-togethers these two welcomed Sharon (The Sharon that is a frequent blog commenter rather than the previous Sharon) and I into their home and lives on multiple occasions the summer we worked in Jackson Hole. They fed us, entertained us...in short loved us and made us feel at home on a journey AWAY from home. I will never forget their open arms or hearts. Their oldest son is now 30 in medical school and has 3 children! Wow time flies...but it seems like just yesterday (only 16 years ago) that we hung out at their 'rest stop'.

I learned a lot about my great aunt Norma (She'll be 90 in a couple of weeks she said) this reunion. See she married my Grandma's brother. I had only heard bits and pieces of stories about him. My Grandma (Gladys), her mom (Annie) and brother (Johnnie) emigrated for the first time to the U.S. in about 1914. At some point due to a death of my grandma's grandparent I believe Annie and Gladys decided to return to England for a visit. Johnnie did not want to go so while only being about 9 years old stayed with family of the missionaries that my Grandma knew from England while the others traveled. Little did they know that WWI would break out and delay their return to the U.S. for many years. Anyway fast forward 35+ years and we find Johnnie with three teenage boys and a wife that died in childbirth delivering a daughter. Norma was asked by her bishop to help Johnnie out with the books for his business and as she said it started from that. She soon married Johnnie, helped raise his children and had 4 more of her own. Sharon and Leonard are two of them.

We also saw my Aunt and Uncle Ray and Joy. I've talked about them before. But it's always a 'joy' to see them. :) And I especially love to see my Dad and his brother together. Yep...Elijah you were busy last weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Back to School 'Lunch' Night...OVERLOAD

Tonight was Back to School night! But in Ethan's mind the only thing worth going to school for is lunch so he keeps calling it Back to School Lunch night. Sadly for him...there was very little food.

We started out at what I THOUGHT was on time. Savanna's teacher requested all the parents and students arrive at 6:00 pm for a meeting. We got there at 5:59 and it seemed it was standing room only and she had been talking for a good 5 minutes.

LESSON LEARNED: BE PUNCTUAL!

I can't believe I am doing the Kindergarten schpeil for the the FOURTH time! Luckily for Savanna it is only the first. And she is VERY excited. She met Buzzy Bee the Puppet (of fame from her friend Whitney who had Ms K last year.) It was a thrilling moment. ;) Only problem with Kindergarten back to school night is that now school doesn't really start for 10 more days! That for a 5 year old equals eternity.

We then headed to our other school, where Emily, Tim & Sierra got to checkout their new digs. A brand new building finished just 'seconds' well maybe an hour before the ribbon cutting. It is very nice...three 'pods' consisting of 6 classrooms each that open up to a commons area. The middle school pod walls are lined with lockers. You can probably hear the cheering from Emily still.

LESSON LEARNED: PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED! I really wanted Sierra to have the right teacher for her. I had 2 or 3 in mind that I thought would work and she got one of my favorites. He just happens to be the husband of her teacher last year. Kinda quirky, but I think it will work. Also it appears that she will be placed in the higher math class and for that I'm thrilled. One of the reasons we switched schools was the lack of understanding the individual child and helping them reach their potential. I see real progress on this front here.

One interesting concept with the combined age groupings is that the kids are placed with a teacher for crew and keep that teacher for multiple years. So it is really more important than with traditional schools to get a teacher that meshes well with your child.

I am pleased with the choices for each of my children. Emily has a great rapport with her teacher from last year and Tim has one of the teachers on my short wish list for him. And of course I think Sierra is in good hands.

Overall it was a great night...but boy are we tired...tired and now officially READY FOR SCHOOL! It can't come fast enough at this point. :)

Question of the Day...

Why is it that kids think that 'looking' is an acceptable alternative to 'finding' when asked to retrieve something?

I Heart Faces~ Silly Faces

It's silly face week at Wow...I have too many of those to choose from. But this is a classic.

Savanna at full throttle.
Check out the other silly faces at I Heart Faces.

Meteor Mayhem

Mark your calendar! It's meteor month. Yep, in the Northern Hemisphere August is the time to see some fantastic meteors. During the second week of August (Peaking this year on August 12th) is the Perseid Meteor shower.

This is a great overview article on the occasion by MSNBC. Go on, read it now, I'll wait.


Waiting,

Waiting,

Waiting...

Ok did you read it?


Wasn't it interesting? The part that explained why we have a meteor shower every August.

Oh...you didn't read the ENTIRE article? You should have it was very informative. Well here is a good little tidbit on it if you are short on time.

"We know today that these meteors are actually the dross of the Swift-Tuttle comet. Discovered back in 1862, this comet takes approximately 130 years to circle the sun. And in much the same way that the Tempel-Tuttle comet leaves a trail of debris along its orbit to produce the spectacular Leonid Meteors of November, the Swift-Tuttle comet produces a similar debris trail along its orbit to cause the Perseids.

Indeed, every year during mid-August, when the Earth passes close to the orbit of Swift-Tuttle, the material left behind by the comet from its previous visits, ram into our atmosphere at approximately 37 miles per second and create bright streaks of light in our midsummer night skies. "

So, take note curl up with a blanket and a buddy for the only thing to fear is as Astronomer, Dr. Kenneth L. Franklin said is getting drenched with dew and falling asleep!

SIDE NOTE: If you are looking to view some stars while waiting for the those sand size comet pieces to fall. You must check this out. It's called the Sky Scout. It's a small computerized, GPS enhanced star identifier and it is really really cool. Mike's Dad brought one over Friday night and we all had a blast identifying stars. It even tells a bit of info/history on 50,000 stars, planets and constellations. It is definitely on my wish list of cool things to own.

"You do a lot of math at your house."

That is what our neighbor, Tim's friend, said today during dinner. You see, a few weeks ago I was paying Tim back wages for mowing the lawn. I handed him (3) 5 dollar bills and this same friend instantly said, "WOW, 15 BUCKS!" I was impressed at how quickly he had calculated the total so right back at him I said, " Hey, what's 3 times 5." He looked at me with a blank face and said "I don't know". I said, "Sure you do. If you have 3 five dollar bills how much money do you have?" Instantly the reply was once again, "15 Bucks". So I repeated my original question and he thought and thought and then replied "15?" It struck me funny (in that not so funny way) how he could instantly multiply money but when it came to times tables he had a mind block on.

Strangely (or maybe not so much) over the next few times he visited we had on the spot math equations interspersed with our conversation. I began teasing him that he had to do a math problem before he went home. It didn't even hit me until tonight, when during dinner, this friend mentioned he had run at 12 miles an hour (for a brief moment) on his grandpa's treadmill. Wondering how fast that really was I said well the really good runners can do 4 minute miles. So, how long would it take you to go 1 mile on the treadmill? As my kids started calculating. (Some faster than others) Our mathaphobic friend said,

"You do a lot of math at your house."

Yes...I guess we do. It is such a normal part of our conversation I didn't even realize it.

I'll take that as a compliment.

Cheesy Garlic Rolls--MMMMM

Cheesy Garlic Rolls
1 Can Large Refrigerator Biscuits (I used Pillsbury Grands--the regular kind not flaky)
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
1 tsp Garlic Powder (to taste)
1/2 Cup Grated Italian Cheese (Mixture of Mozzarella, Provolone, Romano, Asiago & Parmesan)

Cut each biscuit into three strips. Roll out into long 'snake'. Twist into pretzel shape. Mix melted butter and garlic powder together. Dip and entirely coat each roll in butter mixture. Place on baking tray and sprinkle Grated cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until the cheese on top turns golden. Yield 24 Rolls.


EAT!

Inspired by a Taste of Home recipe, Ethan and I put our own 'twist' on these and made them yesterday...fun and easy!

Thanks to Christine...

My dear sweet niece braved my 5 sweet, demanding, loving, exhausting children for 3 days last week. As she put Savanna to bed the first night they had a conversation that went something like this:

Savanna: I know why my Mommy left.
Christine: Oh yeah? Why?
Savanna: I drive her crazy.
Christine: What? Your Mommy loves you.
Savanna: Oh I know she loves me, she's nice to me. But I drive her crazy.

That probably should have been a warning...but I think they had a fabulous time doing things like:

*Riding the bucking bronco at the Treehouse
*Climbing the Rock Wall at Roy Days
*Catching Candy at the Parade
*And in general wearing poor Christine out.

Me on the other hand? I had a fabulous time with my good 'ole husband of 15 years.

Some highlights:

*Attending a session at the Salt Lake Temple
*Laughing till I cried at a Voice Male Concert (check out their new kids album...or favorite is the "Song with No Words"
*Mountain Biking until we almost died. (No it was great...really.) 6 miles--no popped lungs. That's good right?
*Good food, Good Company
*Relaxing
*Coming Home

Yes My Savanna...sometimes I am driven crazy...but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

This post has been a week in coming...

Not because I didn't want to write it, but I wanted to do it right. So the dilemma has been write or right...so far right has won, but no longer...right or not it is write's time.

You see 15 years and 1 week ago marked the biggest decision in my life.

15 years and 1 week ago.... I had new make up...

15 years and 1 week ago... I started an adventure with my best friend.

And what has happened in that last 15 years?

A LOT...

Graduated from college (on the same day no less)...

Built a house...

Welcomed 5 beautiful children to the world...

And well lived.

Living includes downs as well as ups. Losing jobs, starting businesses, battling depression, losing loved ones, learning to be patient, appreciating each other's strengths, understanding each other's weaknesses.

Sometimes 15 years seems long, very very long. But other times, it's short, in fact just a beginning.

Looking back its been quite the ride...I'm just glad to have had my best friend by my side.

Love you Mike.

P.S. I have a total LOVE/HATE relationship with your weird talent of making electronic things work merely by walking in the room even though I have done the same EXACT thing numerous times before you arrived. ARRRGGHHHH.

No...really...Love you Mike. :) To Eternity and beyond!