Testing Email Blogging

Just testing out this email blogging to see if it works. I've been having problems with my google sites for some reason, but if I can blog from email, all the better!!

 

I guess I can update while I try this out. Things have been crazy busy, but good. : ) Duke started his new job at Big 5 in October, and he really loves it. He's full time and training for management. The store he works in is losing both their assistant managers in the spring, so he has a really good shot at moving straight to 1^st assistant manager. This job has been a really good fit for him, being in sporting goods and all. : ) It's been great for me, too, being so close. Before it got all snowy, he was able to walk to work most days.

 

I've been working at Deseret Book again for the Christmas season. I LOVE it. It's always been nice to spend the day surrounded by inspirational and faith-building material. I didn't know how much I had missed the people and the atmosphere until I went back, and I'll be kinda sad to leave after Christmas. However, I'm excited to move on to other pursuits. It looks as though I'll be giving college the old college try (har har) in January. I'm really looking forward to working the old grey matter again, and, for now anyway, I can't wait for homework. That will change soon enough, I'm sure. : )

 

The kids are doing great, just growing like weeds. Jake's finally found a book that excites him and keeps him hooked- he practically sleeps with it these days. I was able to go with his class on a field trip to the Planetarium recently and it was so neat to see him get excited about learning. I'm so grateful to be able to go with him on field trips and take part in school activities. Aspen is excelling in all her studies. She's well ahead of her grade level in reading and math, and she LOVES all the supplemental things she gets to learn. The school recently wrapped up a semester long focus on the arts, during which they brought in several specialists that the kids could study from, including a master puppeteer, a professional story-teller and an acclaimed opera singer, among others. We were able to attend Arts Night at the school again, and had a blast. The first one we went to focused on dance alone, and it was a lot of fun. They involved the entire family in creating an interpretive dance number that we performed for the group. This most recent one brought in all the specialists from the semester (puppets, dance, storytelling, visual arts/bookmaking and opera) and we were allowed to pick 2 out of the 5 to see a presentation from. We ended up going to pupeteering and opera. It was a lot of fun. I got put on the spot to perform pupeteering, and I think I did a pretty good job.

 

Spencer and Hannah continue to crack me up on a daily basis. The other day, Spencer was having a disagreement with some neighborhood girls, and after trying to reason with him about it for a few minutes, I finally gave up with a sigh and said "Well, Spence, I guarantee you'll survive." As he ran out the door, Spencer yelled over his shoulder, "But mom, I don't want to survive! I want to LIVE!!" Classic. : ) Hannah has been showing her more creative side lately by giving herself one interesting haircut after another. I'll have to post a picture soon, but suffice it to say that we're going for a pixie look these days. : ) It has been considerably more convenient, to be sure. I think she was sad about it until she got to nursery and the wonderful teachers in there told her how pretty it looked. I love those guys! : )

 

The biggest news of ALL though, is that we finally have a van!!!! A family in our ward was so very generous to give us their old van when they bought a new one, and a friend of mine who is a wonderful mechanic was kind enough to work on it in his spare time. So, after several months of being in the shop, it's done! We've had it for a week now, and it's been so nice to be able to drive around as a family. Not to mention not having to take car seats and boosters in and out of the car all the time! I'm in vehicular heaven right now.  : ) It's been such a blessing.

 

And that's about it! : ) If this email blogging thing works, I'll probably start blogging more often again. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!

That Fall Feeling

I. LOVE. FALL. Seriously, Autumn is my most favorite season ever. It's finally been fall-ish around here. The temps are dropping and the leaves are turning yellow and orange. :) Bliss.

I turned on some Christmas music last night. Duke was cleaning up the back yard with Jake and we had the kitchen window open so that we could still talk. I was in the middle of making dinner and the cold air was coming in and the music was playing all jazzy. *sigh* Heaven.

I'm not one of those people that thinks that Christmas music can ONLY be played the two weeks before Christmas. I don't listen to it year round or anything, but once the temp drops I'll put on some instrumental stuff. So, fall = cold = sweaters = Christmas music = hot Tang/cocoa.

We're going to carve up some pumpkins this weekend! I'm so excited! If I can ever get my batteries recharged for the camera, I'll get some pics up, and a picture of the rockin' awesome Christmas cards I made for my friend Erin (to give to her clients this year). I stamped them, and came up with the idea/design all by myself. I'm totally proud of them.

And since it's fall, finally, and we're going to be carving pumpkins, I think I'll whip up this recipe for Easy Pumpkin Spice Cookies:

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Spice Cake Mix (or white/yellow cake mix plus cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice)

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

1 cup chocolate chips (or more if you like :)

Mix & bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.

This recipe has been spreading like FIRE on the blogs of the women in my ward, and I had some at our ward's game night. They are so good, and, as if you couldn't tell from just LOOKING at the recipe, super easy.

Today is Jake's 9th Birthday!! I can't believe that my little guy is NINE! Time is flying too fast. I was folding laundry last night, and I've been washing up some baby things to send over to my friend Rachel and her brand new baby boy and I had Jake's big ol' size 10 jeans in the same basket with a cute little baby bunting. It was just one of those moments when you look at the different sizes and your heart does a little skip. He's such a strong, wonderful, loving child. Of course, part of me wants to keep him small forever and misses the baby days, but I'm so excited to see what a great man he will grow up to be. So here's to you, kid. Happy Birthday!!

Slacker

Oh my goodness, I am such a slacker. Okay- September was a little nutty. So please forgive me for not posting more. We had a lot going on, and I have no pictures to share! Still waiting on some from friends and family. So let's get updating!

My birthday was at the end of August and to celebrate we went to Lagoon on Labor Day! Some good friends of ours were able to get us tickets at a super low rate because they were having a company party that day. What a blast!! I had never been before. I rode ALL the coasters (except the Samurai, which was down for maintenance) and even rode Wicked TWICE! Yes. But I'm not that brave. I screamed the WHOLE TIME! :) And of course, we rode the rapids ride and the log ride (which, by the way, we figured we had about 1,000 pounds in that log and WHOO-BOY! talk about your HUGE splash! lol) so we went around the second half of the day soaking wet and shivering. The day had started out raining, so we weren't even sure if we were going to be able to get into the park, and even after it had cleared up the air was still cool. Good times. :)

Duke and I celebrated the anniversary of our sealing on the 9th. It's been a crazy 2 years since then! I'd post a picture of it, but I've recently reformatted the old lappy, and all of the pics are in storage. We got to go on a nice fun date to celebrate- Panda Express, a walk around the mall, and a movie. :) My favorite. Yes, I'm easy. Leave me alone about it. :)

After that, we had the State Fair to go to. Duke's mom and step-dad came up and rented us a really nice van so that we could go. It was so awesome to see them, since it's been almost a year! The kids had way too much fun at the fair. We saw ALL the animals and rode a bunch of rides and even had funnel cake! Then Nanna Vi and Papa Shane took us all to Chuck-A-Rama. I think that Spencer has found his new favorite place in the whole wide world. ALL of the kids ate mac and cheese and went back for Jello about 15 times. :) They'd never been to a buffet before, so it was fun to watch them get all excited. The next day we went to a baby blessing for Duke's step-brother's baby and then got to go to ANOTHER buffet- this time the Golden Corral. Duke had steak for dessert. LOL It's sure fun to get spoiled every now and then! I LOVE visiting with Vi and Shane and his family. They are SO much fun, and such wonderful people.

Next up was Duke's birthday! The only thing he wanted this year was books! So we decided to go to the midnight release of Brisingr- the newest book in the Inheritance Cycle (Eragon). It was fun. Duke wanted to share the night with Jake and Aspen, so we took them to the dollar theatre to see KungFu Panda (which Jake hadn't seen yet), and then out to... you guessed it, Panda Express. LOL We are such Panda Express NUTS! :) Then we went down to our local Borders (the same place I went for the Breaking Dawn release) and hung out until midnight. They had a pretty fun set-up there. They were playing the movie in the kids' section, had a treasure hunt, a dragon ring toss, a trivia challenge and a drawing for a free book. We didn't win anything (other than Tootsie Rolls at the ring toss) but it was so much fun! It was a kick to have Jacob and Aspen there to participate in the silliness. I have to say, though, that Twilight Moms are a MUCH cooler and livlier bunch! :)

I think that's it for our September. I went to the General Women's Broadcast on the 27th with my mom and grandma. It was really great! Deiter Uchtdorf is so amazing. And while we were there we bumped into my neighbor-across-the-street, Trista, whose son plays with Spencer EVERY DAY, and HER mom and grandma, who it turns out is actually related to me! Her grandma's dad is my grandma's grandpa. What a small world, huh?

Well, I hope that you all are doing well! Thanks for reading!

Upcoming events:
*UEA/Fall Break
*Jacob's Birthday
*Halloween

Our Wonderful Principal

This article is from the Daily Herald about the Principal of our school!! He really is fantastic! I'm so happy to have ended up living within the boundaries for this school. It's our 4th year at Rees, and, if I have anything to say about it, we'll be here for another 8 or so! Another (former) teacher from Rees was recently honored with a different prestigious award- one that only goes out to ONE teacher from each state. I'll have to see if I can find a link for that, too. For now, here's just one of MANY reasons we have such an awesome school:

Sp. Fork principal is an 'Innovator'

Janice Peterson - Daily herald

A local principal's drive to help students succeed through a variety of new programs was rewarded recently with the Innovator of the Year Award from the Utah Association of Elementary School Principals. Mike Larsen, principal of Rees Elementary School in Spanish Fork, was nominated for the award by principals within the school district. Luana Searle, executive director of the association, said the award is one of several that honors principals statewide throughout the year. Larsen was chosen because he is the leader of the pack for change, she said. "It's pretty prestigious. He's well-deserving of it," she said. "He's kind of an up-and-coming guy." District spokeswoman Lana Hiskey said Larsen stands out as a principal because he cares about students and tries hard to help them achieve. After his nomination, Hiskey said principals around the state then voted in favor of the five-year principal to receive the prestigious award. "It's kind of a neat award because it's other principals saying, 'Hey, you're the best at this,' " she said. Larsen said there are a number of programs he and others at the school have put together for students. Several are focused around reading, including the school's book store and the "Eagle Reader -- It Pays to Read" program. During morning announcements, Larsen asks students "Did you read last night?" and selected children tell the school over the intercom what they read and why they liked it. The "Re-teach & Enrichment" and "Circle of Support" programs the school has started are geared specifically toward helping students excel in their studies, he said. If students are not understanding certain materials, teachers pair off with smaller groups of students to reteach the information. Students who have learned the material are grouped with other teachers who help to reinforce what they have learned. "If the student hasn't learned it, we're providing specific help immediately," he said. Larsen said he is especially proud of the "Circle of Support" program, which involves the entire staff. Every member of the staff, including those who are not teachers, pitch in to offer free tutoring in their spare time. Larsen said that over time he has seen a remarkable improvement in students because of the support they receive from the entire community. "We are in this together," he said. "It's not just the principal, it's a community of individuals coming together." Larsen said he firmly believes that the success of the programs cannot be solely attributed to him, but to everyone at the school. The award belongs to everyone, as everyone has worked together to help students. "We do whatever it takes to help all students learn," he said. Assistant Superintendent Rick Nielsen, who was principal at Rees before Larsen, said a quality that stands out about the principal is his desire to fine-tune principles that are already in place. He does not come up with new ideas that are just flashes in the pan, but instead focuses on what the programs can do for students. "Mike is somebody who really understands how to blend best practices and new innovative practices with tradition," he said. Nebo school board member Debbie Swenson said one of the best programs the school has come up with is the book store. Families and community members can donate books or money, and school children are able to buy a book for only a quarter. "It's a team effort at that school," she said. "A real team effort, led by Mike."

Shorn

Well, I've been talking about it for ages now, and I finally did it. :) I broke down and had my hair cut! My fantastic visiting teacher, Brenda, cut it for me, despite the fact that she's about to have a baby any day now. :) I definitely owe her some cinnamon rolls or something. And now for the big reveal!



What do you think?

First day of school!

Our first day of school was on Wednesday! The kids and I were so excited!! Jake and Aspen both have great teachers who, though they're both new to our school this year, have lots of experience teaching. I'm really looking forward to watching them learn tons. We have some great goals we've set and plenty of improvements we're working on; it's going to be a GREAT year!



Jake thinks he's so GQ. :)



Aspen is so sweet! :)



Jake and his buddy Zach.



Aspen and her friend Aubrey.

We decided, along with a couple other families in the neighborhood, that the kids are getting big enough to walk to school every day- with some parental supervision of course. So every morning we walk the kids down to "the drop off" where they meet up with a a bunch of other kids who walk to school- about 3 blocks or so from the school. Once they get to that point, there are crossing guards the whole way to the school. And then in the afternoon, we meet them at the same point and walk the rest of the way home. It's been hot, but fun! And with the up- and downhill parts, I'm getting plenty of exercise! :)

After we took the kids to school on Wednesday (we walked the WHOLE way to school on the first day! Whew.) Duke and I took the younger two to the library park. Spencer was so devastated that we had to leave the kids at school, and that he couldn't STAY there, that we thought an activity would help him get through the day. Here's a picture of him feeling better, and Hannah doing her best Sleeping Beauty impression:






AND! The dragonfly we saw on the way to school:



Isn't that neat?

BREAKING DAWN!

*insert hysterical fan-squeals here* And now a moment to regain some sanity. :)

I've been SOOOOO looking forward to Breaking Dawn. For those of you who have NO idea what I'm talking about, it's the 4th (and presumably last) in the INTENSELY popular Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Yes. It's a book. Feel free to mock me now. :) Anyway- I've been looking forward to the release for a year now. I recently discovered TwilightMoms.com, and I'm sure glad I did. What a blast! They had a ton of stuff planned out for it!

My cousin Katie and I went ALL out! Borders, our book purveyor of choice for this shindig, opted to give out wristbands the morning before the release. The number on the wristband dictated in what order people could buy their books. So, what does any self-respecting, completely obsessed Twilight Mom do? Well, I don't know about you, but we camped out all night at Borders to get our wristbands! :) It was so much fun! There were a few other Twilight Moms there, as well as some awesome FanFic authors. We had such a blast hanging out all night, meeting new people, eating peanut butter M&M's, watching Brian Regan and Jane Eyre on the laptop and talking about TWILIGHT! :) I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep on the concrete in front of the store. And as a sweet reward, I got the 10th wristband! Out of about 1200! :) Here's a picture of Katie and I the next morning and the line behind us:


After going back to Katie's for a few hours of much needed snoozing, we hightailed it over to my Grandma's house to get all dolled up for the release party. TwilightMoms planned a group dinner at Tucano's (our local Brazilian Grill- all you can eat MEAT and grilled pineapple! Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!). We snagged Maleena on our way and the three of us had so much fun eating great food and teasing the waiters. Just for our benefit, a couple of the staff chose to wear name tags that read Jacob and Edward. Again, for those who've never read the books, these are the two guys in the love triangle that makes up the story of the series. A lot of the fans have chosen to side with either Team Edward or Team Jacob. Not so surprisingly, I have chosen the Switzerland route, and stayed neutral. So here's a picture of me with the guys (they are CUTE! And holding skewers full of meat! I'll take two, please!):



At the release party, amidst other fun activities- live bands, trivia contests, raffles, a blood drive, etc. , they held an Ugliest Bridesmaid Dress contest, in honor of the anticipated nuptials in the last book. Katie and I, ever the adventurers, decided to enter. I have to say that we put much time and effort into our costumes, scouring the local second-hand stores for the perfectly hideous dress, plowing through our mother's boxes of scrap fabrics and notions to make them even more unbecoming, and even HAND STITCHING the (in)appropriate accessories to our get-up. Well, Katie hand stitched. I just pestered my mom while she risked several fingers' well-being wielding a hot glue-gun on my behalf. Here's a picture (or two) of the finished product:


By the way, I made that corsage that's sprouting from my décolletage. Pretty spiffy, no? Since this is my blog, I'll brag for a bit. I did Katie's hair, with my fantastic flat-iron, and her make-up- which I think turned out perfectly Vampire-ish. She looked so awesome that I kinda feel guilty that I WON the contest! Yes!! I WON FIRST PLACE!! I couldn't believe it! :) I swear, I never win anything! Here's the prize for first place and a full length shot of the horror that won it for me:


After that it was a bit of a whirlwind! We got changed back into our street clothes (and not a moment too soon! All that polyester was making me HOT!) and got in line for our books. Once we picked those up, of course we wanted to get reading right away! TwilightMoms came through again and had a sleepover planned just a few blocks from the bookstore. After a quick but thoroughly fantastic chair massage (while we waited for directions to the sleepover), we headed to Charise's house. She had everything decked out for the party- cupcakes with strawberries, all KINDS of snack foods, and a chocolate fountain! What a kick! It was so much fun! Her mom even made us breakfast in the morning. Thank you, thank you, Charise! I'd still be reading if it wasn't for you. :)

I stayed up ALL NIGHT and read, read, read. I gotta tell you, this book was a real page turner! There were so many twists and turns, I didn't DARE put it down! I honestly looked up from reading about 12 times that night with my eyes as big as saucers and said, "WHAT!?!?! Oh my gosh! What page are you on?? Who's on page ___??" LOL Some major shockers, but I won't spoil it for anyone who's still reading. In the end, I'd say that it wasn't my FAVORITE book out of the four, but I was happy with the way it ended. There were definitely some parts that I wish were a little different, but I was so glad that she tied up every single loose end. I mean, you don't really go away wondering what happened to anyone. So that was really satisfying. I finished all 700+ pages in less than 18 hours- not my personal best, but once I got home from the sleepover it took me a little longer to finish. :)

Amazingly enough, after I finished up all of that, it got even crazier around here! My best friend since high school, Heidi, was in town to visit us the day I returned to Earth from Twilight Land. :) It is always so awesome to visit with her- now that we're all grown up we only get to see each other about once a year. We had our yearly reunion with the other member of our high school trio, Erin. Her poor husband had probably had enough of us by the end of the weekend. We tend to revert to our high school selves when we get together. I think I've giggled myself out for the next 11 months. Maybe someday we can convince her to move up here so we can get silly more often in shorter bursts.

And then, before Heidi even left, all the kids came down with strep throat. Of course, shortly following, Duke and I caught it, too. So we're all on antibiotics, and have quarantined the house from outsiders. I think we'll be able to lift the ban tomorrow, though. Everyone seems to be recovered completely, except poor Duke, who always gets hit so hard.

So! What a way to spend the last few days before school starts, huh? Yes, it's true. There are only 10 (9 by the time anyone reads this) days left until the first day of school!! The kids are SO excited! Jacob will be in the third grade this year, and Aspen will be in first. Time flies so fast! In two more years all of my kids will be in school! Can you believe it? As soon as we get new school pictures, they'll be up on here.

Well, that's it for now! I'm off to bed. Just a quick "hooray!" for the US Mens Relay Swim team! Way to go for the gold!! I'm so glad that they won today, especially after getting so much smack-talk from the French. GO TEAM USA!!

Upcoming Events:
*First Day of School
*My birthday! Woohoo!
*The 2nd Anniversary of our Sealing
*Duke's birthday!